The Johnson Brothers
by Mac Mc.K
Summary: A fan-fiction with a mix of everything, mainly including Naruto, Killzone, Resistance, Command and Conquer, my own original characters, Ninja Gaiden, a whole slew of things.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Just for the record, I DO **NOT OWN** NOR AM I **ASSOCIATED** WITH **ANY **OF THE VIDEO GAME, MANGA, ANIME OR ANY OTHER UNIVERSE(S) THAT I **MAY** AND **POSSIBLY** WILL MENTION IN THIS STORY INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING: VIDEO GAMES, MOVIES, TV SHOWS, MUSIC, BANDS, ACTORS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, COMPAINES, STORES, CORPORATIONS OR **ANYTHING ELSE** THAT I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN HERE NOR DO I MAKE MONEY OFF OF **ANYTHING** MENTIONED HERE.

Authors Note: I couldn't really figure out what category to place this story in, since it's a mish-mash of many things, including the video game universes of Resistance: Fall of Man, Ninja Gaiden, Command and Conquer and Killzone. Most of the cast from the Naruto series also plays a major part here as well as a few original characters created for this story but the bulk of the story centers around these few characters. In short, I don't know what to call it. Guess you could call it a "game/anime x-over" but this site dosen't have that category, so since it uses more video game content than anime in the long run, I guess it goes in the game x-over category.

**The Johnson Brothers**

Prologue

It all began with the Tunguska Event of 1908. Although the meteor never hit the ground, what was inside the meteor did…and what was inside of it was far deadlier than any meteor crash could have ever hoped to be. World War I happened as planned. Only this time, instead of Germany being blamed for everything, instead of the Treaty of Versailles or the infamous Fourteen Points, humanity was able to cooperate with one-another and what spawned from this was not only a peaceful, prosperous Europe, but the prevention of the Great Depression, the rise of the Nazi's and World War II. Russia however, was still an isolationist nation and still under Tsarist rule, as Lenin's revolution was crushed.

However, everything changed in 1921when Russia initiated a communications blackout with the world and built a wall against the European border known as "The Red Curtain." Soon after, rumors began to leak out of Russia, depicting villages, towns, even entire cities disappearing overnight. The only thing that managed to escape beyond the border was a single message repeated over and over again, saying _"__Brotherhood, Strength, and Fortitude...in the face of the angry night.__"_

Then, in December of 1949, the Red curtain was suddenly breached by a massive onslaught of what appeared to be humans dressed in all black combat gear, each wearing a gas-mask and sporting glowing red eyes. By February of 1950, almost all of England was over-run, leaving few survivors. By this time, using what little technology they were able to get their hands on, as well as a few autopsies, intercepted transmissions and stories of the very few people who managed to escape, exhaustive investigation had revealed the first fruits of knowledge of humanity's new enemy. They called themselves "The Helghast" and while their origins and goals remained a mystery, it was clear they wanted every last human dead. While there were multiple types of beings seen throughout their infrastructure, nearly every one of them seen up to that point was an already brain-dead but still alive human being controlled by something, presumably a highly advanced network of some kind. The process of creating the human variant or "converting" started by capturing humans using a highly mobile parasite. The parasite was deployed in rocket shaped objects called "spires" through a variety of methods but most notably mobile artillery. These spires carried thousands of parasites's that, after entering the human body through the mouth, caused the victim to fall into a coma. After the battle was over, the Helghast would then collect the bodies, where they were taken to a "conversion" center, biologically altered to their specifications and outfitted with the appropriate gear. As far as it was known, there had been no forms of resistance to their conversion methods or at least no one had survived to tell the tale.

However, just when it seemed like the Helghast were to cross the English Channel and invade Britain, they suddenly vanished. All attempts to relocate to the remains of the now-destroyed England failed, as the people who went, never came back. Using this time wisely, the entire western hemisphere and Great Britain immediately began evacuating millions of civilians into the inner parts of the remaining continents and established the largest defense perimeters in human history preparing for the worst. With this, humanity waited…and waited…for three and a half long years.

Then, on May 15, 1953 the Helghast suddenly sprung up from the ground; not just in Britain, but in every remaining human-controlled territory. They had been digging at an immense pace under the earth ever since they first established their military. Having this advantage as well as the element of surprise, they were easily able to bypass the defense perimeters and find their way into the main civilian population centers. Within 24 hours of this global assault, ¼ of the remaining human population was killed. Making matters worse is that the Helghast were also able to take the virus used to infect humans and modify it into a gas form. After 3 days, ½ of the remaining population was infected.

Time was quickly running out; millions of civilians were being infected, the Helghast had started to establish strong footholds in the remaining human territories and it was clear that the even the military controlled zones would not hold out for long once the Helghast were done with the civilians. Even retaliation was deemed suicide. Thus a global message was broadcasted, directing any remaining survivors to specially marked areas. These areas, later dubbed "zones" were locations where the Helghast could not penetrate the surface through the underground or that hadn't yet been attacked. A 12 hour time limit was given. Once that expired, the leaders of humanity did the unthinkable: Denying their enemy control, they unleashed a massive nuclear counter-attack on every section of the planet that was either under siege or already under Helghast control. In just two brief hours, what would become known as the "Firestorm Crisis" and the collective end of the "First Helghan War" in humanity's recorded history was over. Extinction was averted but the effects were beyond devastating. While almost all of the Helghast on the surface and their occupied cities were eradicated, most of the people who couldn't make it into the safe zones were also killed in the counter strike. The surface had also suffered a terrible fate. Much of the surface was dangerously contaminated with radiation, and some parts of the surface were contaminated so badly, they could no longer sustain life. Only around 1/5 of the surface remained unscarred by the war or was still under human control.

Thankfully, a small part of the seemingly unstoppable tide turned in humanity's favor. While the Helghast had survived below the surface, almost all of their military and economic power had been on the surface when it was nuked. With almost all their military, conversion, production and manufacturing facilities wiped out, as well as the lack of humans to infect and convert, they were in no position to launch an attack of any kind. As for the radiation, humanity's scientists had thankfully foreseen this nuclear nightmare constructed the warheads accordingly, so that the blast was much heavier and thus, its harmful effects would not travel with the wind. They were initially successful, and instead of wandering world-wide, the only area's that the bombs affected were the ones hit directly by the bombs and the immediate surrounding area. This caused a need for an increased number of warheads, but avoided total extinction.

Being safe for the moment, humanity spent the next few decades re-building itself. The Helghast had, once again, completely vanished so humanity had the upper hand for the moment. They focused on re-building the population, fortifying and uniting all the territories they still had under their control, further studying the Helghast specimens and trying to reverse-engineer what little Helghast technology was left and mapping out all the terrain affected by the war. The most dangerously contaminated areas were dubbed "Red Zones," the heavily contaminated (but still minimally habitable) areas were dubbed "Yellow Zones" and the unscarred areas were dubbed "Blue Zones." A miracle vaccine was also fashioned from this shortly after and was administered to every human in the secured territories. With their future secured and control regained, humanity's leaders met in New York City and after much talk and debate, the new earth government was formed. It was named the United Earth Federation or UEF for short. New York City was officially re-named Federation City and was labeled the new capital of planet earth. With that taken care of, humanity once again waited for the Helghast to make their move against the UEF.

It's been 200 years since the formation of the UEF. Our story however, revolves around three brothers living a comfortable life in Federation City…a comfortable life that was soon about to change…


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Just for the record, I DO **NOT OWN** NOR AM I **ASSOCIATED** WITH **ANY **OF THE VIDEO GAME, MANGA, ANIME OR ANY OTHER UNIVERSE(S) THAT I **MAY** AND **POSSIBLY** WILL MENTION IN THIS STORY INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING: VIDEO GAMES, MOVIES, TV SHOWS, MUSIC, BANDS, ACTORS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, COMPAINES, STORES, CORPORATIONS OR **ANYTHING ELSE** THAT I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN HERE NOR DO I MAKE MONEY OFF OF **ANYTHING** MENTIONED HERE.

**The Johnson Brothers**

Chapter 1

The alarm clock struck 7:30 AM and let out a high-pitched screech. A hand quickly materialized out of the blanket completely covering the body underneath and struck the off button.

"Damn clock," Said the voice of a young boy. "Why do you always have to wake me up when I'm just about to win the game? I swear I was literally one kill away from winning that Killzone 2 match against The Devil's Descendants clan and I've been longing to beat them for ages!" he said in an overly dramatic way.

The boy finally sat up in bed and gave his alarm clock a glare. While he was thankful that he had it to wake him up every morning, (if he didn't have one he'd never get up) he was sick and tired of it ruining his winning streak, especially now. He'd dreamed of pitting his Killzone 2 clan against the infamous Devil Descendants for so long, even if only in a dream, and now that he had come so close to victory, the alarm clock would keep him waiting forever more.

"Ha!" He said after finally glaring at it for several minutes. "You win today clock, I admit that much...but just you wait. The day will come where I, Marcus Calvin Johnson **WILL** triumph over the Devil's Descendants and there will be nothing you can do to stop it!" Just as he was finishing his tirade on the helpless clock, he heard another screech, followed by a yell and a crash in the room next to his.

"I didn't do it!" said the voice of a slightly younger boy, "I did not do it… it's the clock fault…" Shortly after, he heard the loud moan of a much older person, not old enough to be a parent, but an older brother who had just reached adulthood.

"_Great_," thought Mark. "_Another day of his motherly nagging_," He looked at the date section of his clock "_Fuck and its Saturday! Christ, why does he have to nag like an old lady only on the weekends,_" he thought to himself. He would never say that out loud when his older brother was nearby. Despite the fact that he was a pretty tough kid who could take a beating as well as give it, his brother was ten times as fierce and was one of the few people he'd never openly challenge.

"Jared, why do you have always need to break your alarm clock? You know how long it takes me to fix that?" said the older brother in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah yeah, you're lucky I didn't light the thing on fire. Count your blessings Harold, I'm a saint." Jared replied.

In that moment, Mark felt a pang of jealousy. His younger brother Jared was the only one he knew who was gifted with the ability to back-sass his oldest brother Harold and not get beaten to a pulp. If Mark ever said anything of the sorts, his face would be a part of the floor by now. That was partially due to the fact that both Mark and Harold had both been taking martial arts since age three but Harold being nine years Mark's senior gave him more than a slight advantage.

Finally, realizing that the situation of him not having the luxury of back-sassing Harold or being able to defeat the Devil's Descendants was never going to change, Mark got out of bed. At age 12, having studied in martial arts for the past nine years, he was in good shape for someone his age. At the very least, school bullies were never a problem. After he got dressed, he walked out of his room, only for the door next to his to open at the exact same time. Out walked his younger brother.

"Morning Jared," Mark said

"Morning loser," replied Jared sheepishly.

Mark sighed. Jared, being only two years younger than Mark was expectedly immature. At least that was the façade he put on for everyone. He knew that Jared was actually quite mature deep down but could never understand why he never showed it. His best guess was that he was lazy. Mark, having display a level of maturity virtually unseen in his age group, had rather high expectations from the older generations. Jared had no doubt seen this, and really didn't feel like working like a dog just to receive nice comments from older people who most likely didn't care about him in the slightest. Still, no matter how hard Mark tried, Jared never showed it, even to him.

"Going through your period much?" Mark asked.

Jared's eyes widened for a moment before he replied "You're a real bastard, ya know that?"

"It's a talent" replied Mark.

Jared stood there fuming for a moment before he realized utter defeat and finally wandered downstairs to get some breakfast. Mark stood watching Jared storm off, happy to have annoyed him for once. Jared knew how to drive almost anyone crazy. He was full of pranks and mischief and even that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Mark was just about to head downstairs when he heard a voice behind him say "I seriously don't know how you do it Mark," said Harold.

Harold, the oldest of the three brothers was nine years older than Mark and was mainly the one who looked after Mark and Jared for most of their lives. Since their parents were busy scientists, they were almost never at home, thus leaving Harold to basically raise them.

"Do what?" Mark asked.

"I seriously don't understand how you manage to use Jared's own words against him. No matter what he does, you simply take it and throw it right back at him."

"As I told him thirty seconds ago, it's a talent. I honestly can't explain it myself. Maybe I just have that same line of thinking in me but I can't tell. I don't use it." This was true. Mark was years beyond most people his age in terms of maturity and his line of thinking. While he did have that mischief and devilish line of thinking in him, he found little incentive to actually implement it around the adults he came into contact with as it proved useless to him though he never hesitated to use it around Jared. This increased maturity did allow him to accomplish certain tasks and goals that almost no one in his age group could even think to accomplish, but it didn't come without drawbacks. Mark was mostly unable to make friends and for the most part, he was alone. While he found other things to pass the time, he still longed for more people he could truly connect with and consider his friends.

"Ah well, I guess I'll never figure it out…but listen, my girlfriends car broke down yesterday so I gotta play chauffer again."

Mark sighed "Ah man, you're NEVER around Harold." Mark was only faking it. He was relieved to have Harold leave for the day. He could finally get some Killzone 2 time in and maybe get closer to fighting the Devil's Descendants clan for real.

The morning continued with Mark going about his morning routine, which included his laps around his house, going through his standard martial arts exercises and kata forms as well as refining his techniques. Mark preferred to have breakfast after he had completed his morning routine, as eating beforehand always slowed him down.

Finally, at around eleven o'clock, Mark was finally able to say "See ya later Harold." As he watched Harold drive off, Mark almost slammed the door shut in relief that he finally had the whole place to himself.

"Finally!" he shouted out loud, "I finally have this whole goddamn place to myself. No more naggy Harold! No more extra-long list of chores, no more nothing! Now I can finally get some Killzone 2 time in," he concluded as he walked up the right staircase of the main hall.

Their house was massive, containing at least 20 rooms total. When waking into the main hall, there was a wide open space with two hallways straight ahead and two staircases each leading up to the same level. The left hallway lead to the kitchen and dining room with the dining room being straight ahead and the kitchen to the left, which also had a door leading to the side of the house. The right hallway lead to the ballroom, with a door on the right leading to a large pool room. As for the two staircases, they lead to a walkway which ran around the upper part of the main hall with various doors leading to bedroom, bathrooms, the library and the entertainment room. All-in-all, it was a mammoth of a house, and personally, Mark would have preferred a much smaller house. Cleaning it was such a chore, that at times, a full cleaning crew was needed just for the vacuuming. Chores were few but required a near-retarded amount of time to complete. Still, they never came often and both Mark and Jared were thankful for that.

Walking into the entertainment room, his mind off of chores, Harold's nagging and the annoyances of life in general, it wasn't long before he was signed in to the Playstation Network and was already on his way to starting up a match on Killzone 2.

_At long last,_ he thought to himself, _We can finally start working our way up the ranks, and at the end of that long, harsh road, we will have the honor of claiming the one-true prize we've all been dreaming of these years: Hearing the clan members of the Devil's Descendants scream in sheer agony and frustration as we mercilessly pound the ever living shit out of their pathetic clan and send them into a fate worse than death: 2__nd__ place on the all-time ranking list in the Killzone 2 leader-boards MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

It was times like these that he felt like a little kid about to get his hard-earned reward of candy at the end of the day. For some reason, he was always so fired up when he was about to jump into a clan match on Killzone 2. Normal matches were one thing, as he only considered them practice, but this was different. The fact that the other clan members weren't exactly his friends didn't bother him much. It was one of the few things in life that lifted him from the normally serious, lonely mood he was always stuck in.

Just as he was about to start up a clan match, as his heart raced faster than it ever had before, he received a message from the Playstation Network. It read: _Due to technical issues, all online servers of Killzone 2 have been suspended effective 5/27/2183. We apologize for any inconvenience and are working to restore the online servers. Thank you for your cooperation. _At that point, Mark could only stare blankly at the screen. His eyes empty, his face without any form of expression…for about 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, at the end of the house opposite from the entertainment room, Jared was downstairs in the kitchen preparing a hot fudge sundae. Mark had asked him to leave him be for the next few hours due to a clan match and clearly stated that interruptions, no matter what the urgency were completely unacceptable, and should an emergency arise, he was to deal with it on his own. However, this message was completely erased from his mind when he heard what sounded like someone screaming "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! !" The weird thing is that Jared thought that's what he heard, as it was so loud, it was almost as if Metallica has started band practice right in the kitchen.

_Uh-oh, _Jared though. _Something BIG has gone down! _He ran upstairs and into the entertainment room as fast as he could, expecting something so horrific, it had scared Mark into submission and almost nothing could do that. Instead, what he found was a half-crazed Mark, bloodshot eyes and everything, shaking the massive 60 inch TV screaming "Why? Why? WHY? HOW THE **FUCK** COULD YOU **DO** THIS TO ME YOU PIECE OF PLATIC **SHIT**? DO YOU KNOW WHO I **AM**?" When Jared saw that the cause of all the screaming was that the PSN servers were temporarily shut down, delaying Mark's oh-so important clan match and not that he had gashed himself to the bone with a knife, his only reaction was to burst out laughing to the point where he couldn't even see through all the tears.

Just as Mark was finishing his apocalyptic speech on the helpless TV, he heard laughter coming from his left. Mark turned to see Jared rolling around on the floor, laughing even louder than Mark had been screaming a moment ago. Mark just stood there, eyes wider than a saucer. Then his face went crimson red with embarrassment. _Oh man, oh MAN! How much shit did I just get myself into? _Mark thought to himself. Mark knew this would be the turning point in the war against Jared. From this day on, Jared would always have this incident dangling over his head. No matter what he did, Jared would have the upper hand.

Mark managed to clear away some of the blush before finally saying "Ok ok, you caught me. I admit defeat for now," Mark said trying not to act too embarrassed.

Jared simply continued laughing, not even hearing what Mark had said, laughing too hard to even hear straight.

"Ok, I get it. Funny stuff, I know and you can stop laughing now," Mark said, getting more agitated now.

Still unable to hear Mark's words, Jared continued laughing.

"Jared, I'm warning you!" Mark said, his face becoming slightly red with anger.

Even at this, Jared continued laughing, as if he was almost stuck in a permanent state of laughter, unable to control any function of his body. Mark on the other hand was quickly becoming red again. Not with embarrassment, but with rage. It was fine if people laughed at stupid things he did, but taking it to the extent Jared was, Mark was pushed a little too far over the edge. Mark had a temper and he knew it. Right now however, he didn't care. He was at the breaking point and he was determined to let Jared know it fully well.

"HEY JARED!" Mark screamed.

Jared stopped, and looked at him full in the face.

"I KNOW WHAT I DID WAS FUNNY AND ALL BUT YOU CAN **STOP FUCKING LAUGHING NOW! **WE ALL DO STUPID THINGS! YOU'RE THE **SHINING **EXAMPLE OF THAT AND YOU DON'T SEE ME LAUGHING AT IT LIKE YOU JUST DID EVERY TIME YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID, DO YOU!"

Jared stopped, unable to speak. This was the first time in years he had seen Mark like this. For a second, he was afraid. But then, as Mark spoke the last of his tirade, he saw it: An opening.

"So do me a favor and STOP! FUCKING! LAUGHING!"

Jared smiled a devilish grin, stood up proudly, and said "Going through your period much?"

Mark stopped, the anger melting away from him. He just stood there, staring blankly into space. When Jared saw that, he realized just then how much he screwed up. He was just about to say something when he saw Mark twitch.

"I'M GONNA FUCKING** FLATTEN **YOU!"Mark screamed as he ran after Jared.

Jared didn't know how he was able to do it and at that point he didn't care. He had made it outside the entertainment room, had managed to jump over the walkway banister and land on the first floor (a 10 foot drop) without hurting himself. From there, he made a mad dash for the ballroom, only glimpsing behind him to watch Mark hit the same area of the floor he did. Only this time, the floor caved in and Jared could hear a blood chilling *crack* as he felt the floor almost splinter to pieces. From there, he saw Mark's eyes, and from what he briefly saw, they were eyes that were determined to kill.

Jared ran as fast as he could into the ballroom but at this point, it was practically the flash chasing the pills bury dough boy. Mark tackled him just as he entered the ballroom. He turned over just in time to see a fist come converging right at him. Jared just narrowly avoided it as the hard wooden floor next to him splintered like a car hitting a pane of weakened glass.

It was then that he saw it coming: The end. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge the next punch. He knew his life would end right then and there. No, it wouldn't. Something deep down wouldn't allow it. Something gave Jared the courage to allow him to speak as the fist drew ever closer to him.

"MARK STOP! IT'S ME!"Jared was able to scream in fright at the last second. Mark finally snapped out of his twisted, warped world and was able to purposely make his fist hit the floor next to Jared at the last second.

Mark just stood there, stunned at what he had just almost done. After about a ten seconds of this, Mark shot up like a rocket. He threw himself against the wall, gasping for breath, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Jared…Did I just really almost kill you?" He asked in a half-chocked voice.

Jared slowly nodded, "Uh-huh" he replied.

All the color drained from Mark's face. The fact that he had just almost killed his brother with the root of the cause becoming angry over the fact that the Killzone 2 servers had just been shut down was too much for Mark to handle. It finally hit full force. Mark burst into an uncontrollable mess of tears and quickly disappeared upstairs, locking himself in his room.

* * *

After three hours of crying and thinking on what had just happened, Mark finally emerged from his room, unsure of what awaited him. Much to his surprise, Jared was sitting in a ball, arms wrapped around his knees outside his door. After a moment of just standing there, he sat down next to Jared, unsure of what to say.

Finally, after a few minutes of just sitting there, Mark finally said "Ummm…wanna call Derry and Max over?"

Jared perked up. "Uhh…sure, we could do that." Mark could still tell that Jared was hesitant about his words. That was something that would no doubt linger for a long time. Mark knew that this day would surely put a massive hole in their relationship. Still, Mark didn't want to hold an air of fear around Jared conversation-wise.

"Jared…" he said. Jared turned to face him, "You don't have to be so hesitant about talking to me. I'm ok now. I…I don't know what got over me…I…"

"Mark, it's ok," said Jared, cutting him off. "It was my fault too…"

At this point, Mark knew it was best to drop it. What happened happened and Mark knew there was nothing he could do or say to try and change it.

Pushing the incident out of his mind as best he could, he replied "Ok then," the energy re-entering his voice. "I'll go call em up and you…umm…umm…"

"Get the chips?" asked Jared.

"Yes, you get the chips," replied Mark.

"Ok then."

It didn't take long after the call for Mark to hear the doorbell ring. Mark opened the door to see a dark-skinned boy roughly the same age as him, and a girl with shoulder-length hair roughly the same age as Jared standing next to him.

"Yo Mark!" called the boy.

"Derry man, wassup!" replied Mark.

Derry was a similar up-standing, intelligent kid even though he always didn't let on. This was one of the few reasons that he and Mark were able to get a long due to the fact that they could both be years beyond their age in terms of intelligence and maturity but still act their age when it came to certain things…such as kicking the shit out of other Killzone 2 clans.

"Hey Mark," said the girl.

"Oh, Hi Max…umm…Jared's in the kitchen." said Mark, not quite knowing what to say. With that, Max ran off to the kitchen calling out Jared's name.

"So wassup?" said Derry.

"Nothin much. Same shit, different day. Except this time, the old lady is out of the house!" Mark said happily.

"All right man! Now we can actually discuss our Killzone 2 clan plans in peace and quiet."

Mark was about to tell Derry the bad news on the Killzone 2 servers when Derry spoke before him, "But first, I wanna show you a game that I've been **dyin **to show yall for like, the past week!"

"Uh, ok. Lead the way," Mark said.

Derry and Mark walked upstairs into the entertainment room with the PS3 still turned on and the screen displaying the current status of the Killzone 2 servers still up. As Derry set his duffel bag on the couch and unzipped it, Mark was quick to shut the PS3 off, trying his hardest not to remember what had happened mere hours ago.

"Ok," said Derry. "Here it is."

Mark turned around to see a game he had seen countless times over the internet in recent years. The notoriously bad apple of the Bomberman series: Bomberman Act Zero.

"Oh, come **on** Derry!" Mark yelled out. "You don't actually expect meto play **that**, do you?"

"Aw C'mon on Mark," Derry said eagerly. "If anyone should be able to see the good in this game, I figured that someone would be you. Think about it, everyone hated Vampire Rain and you liked it. Everyone called Alone in the Dark the worst survival horror game ever, yet you made some people see otherwise. They even had the balls to say that Legend of Dragoon was a Final Fantasy 7 rip-off yet you saw different. So what's to stop you from seeing different on this game?"

"Because there is that rare occasion where the majority is actually right," Mark replied. With that said, Derry switched to his final tactic.

"Pfft! Ok, fine…whatever. I guess I'll just go home, sit around and do nothing for the rest of the day," Derry said drearily.

Mark shot him a flat look, annoyed but allowed Derry to continue. "So if you don't wanna play my game, that's fine…I understand," Derry continued as he moved slowly toward the door.

Mark finally let out a huge sigh and said "Alright already, jeez. I'll play your stupid game. Just stop acting like baby."

With that said, Derry turned around and with a bright grin on his face, practically materialized from the doorway to the couch and quickly re-set up shop. Just as he was about to put his game in the Xbox 360 though, he noticed something odd about the entertainment before saying "Uhh…Mark, where's the 360?"

"Oh," Mark said, only just remembering where he put it. "Be right back," said Mark as he quickly dashed out of the room and into the attic. Needless to say, Derry was right. Not more than five minutes into the game and Mark was already beginning to see the good side of the game. That was another way in which Derry and Mark got along. For some reason they seemed to enjoy games that virtually everyone else hated.

Shorty after Mark was getting the hang of Act zero, Max and Jared came up into the entertainment room, stating that Jared was so bored that watching anything, even if that meant watching Mark play video games, would suit his needs for entertainment.

"Jeez," Jared finally said. "This is SO boring!"

"Are you sure of that?" Max asked.

"Well…maybe not **completely** boring," he said blushing.

Max was Jared's best friend and had been since they were practically born. Her parents were scientists specializing in weapons development, so naturally, Max was left in the care of her older brother as well. Mark wasn't so sure, but he had come to the conclusion that this was the reason the two could relate so well. That and they were total idiots, although Max was more level-headed than Jared. Mark could have also sworn they had a crush on each-other but he couldn't exactly understand why. He guessed it was the Italian in Max and the fact that Jared had always like Italian girls. Still, if it were true, Jared was either unknowingly completely oblivious or unwilling to reveal it and for the most part he was successful…save for a few occasions like this.

"Hey, take this goddamn romance someplace else! We're kinda busy here…" Derry said, annoyed by the sudden air of love in the room.

"Well, excuuuuuse moi," Jared replied sarcastically. "We'll just take our romance someplace away from your oh-so important serious business!"

Mark was just about to break up the fight when he heard a girly man voice come out of nowhere. "Oh you don't need be doin that now. We can all have a little bita action right here."

Everyone froze. They all knew full-well what that voice was.

"DILLON!" Mark screamed jumping away from the couch and readying himself into a fighting stance.

"Oooooooo you wanna play rough eh? Well, that's ok, I'm in the mood for a little rough-housing today anyways, he he he…" said Dillon with a sly tone in his voice.

Dillon was the outback, redneck, cousin of Mark and Jared. He lived with their even crazier Uncle Ben and Auntie Lane in a forest county near Federation city. The fact that he was a little crazy didn't surprise anyone. His parents came from a heavily irradiated yellow zone. Despite the Federation's motto of helping refugees from those hellholes, many who knew them were left scratching their heads as to how exactly they were accepted in the first place. Their mental state was questionable at best and it typically wasn't in their nature to let refugees in if they failed a basic psyche exam, which they did.

Dillon on the other hand, being eight years older than Mark, was about as homosexual as it got and had come a little too close for comfort on a few occasions, with the most recent event having attracted the Federation police. He was since banned from Federation city, but always managed to sneak in somehow.

Jared, Derry and Max were quick to get behind Mark, "Whadda you want Dillon?" demanded Mark.

"Oh, I don't know. I was just sitting at home and realized I haven't seen you two in six months," he said his voice dropping to a fake sadness. "So I figured 'hey, why not go pay my two favoriteist cuzins a lil visit' and well, here I am," he concluded, his voice returning to its normal happy tone.

"Yeah, well don't expect to get any action today! I've been training hard lately and I've got a few new techniques I wanna test out," said Mark in a bold yet anxious tone.

"Now now, don't go getting so cocky there boy. I too have some new tricks up my own dang sleeves," Dillon replied confidently.

Mark stood sharp and ready in his fighting stance waiting for Dillon to make a move. Mark was certain Dillon was going to make his usual mistake and charge head-on at Mark but this time was different. He saw one of Dillon's eyes fix itself on the rest of the group. Mark's eyes widened as he unknowingly misread what Dillon was going to do.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Mark screamed as he turned his head to face his younger brother…but that was exactly what Dillon wanted Mark to do. With Mark's full attention distracted on his younger brother and his friends, Dillon lunged at Mark. Mark was too slow to react and before he knew it, he was pinned up against the wall next to the TV. Mark tried to bring his arms up to his chest in an effort to push Dillon off, but realized that Dillon had focused mostly on pinning his arms to prevent Mark using that very technique.

"Awww, it seems all the other lil rugrats have left me," said Dillon again with the fake sadness.

"But don't you worry your widdle ol head off. I've still got you," he concluded with a menacing tone in his voice.

Mark wasn't sure of what to do. His mind was racing too fast. He had to relax, breathe deep. This is the condition Dillon wanted him to be in, so Mark wouldn't be able to fight back effectively. Dillon had planned everything perfectly. He knew Mark was able to keep his cool if he was in danger, but if Jared or his friends were on the line, Mark easily broke down. Dillon made it look like he was going after Jared to temporarily break Mark's mental defenses then pin him when he was at his weakest. It was a brilliantly played move and for once, Mark was unable to do anything…at least until he heard a scream just outside the entertainment room.

"Aww shucks. Man, I wish Betty wouldn't make such a ruckus when dealin with those three."

_Betty?_ Mark thought. _No, not Betty. Anything but Dillon psychotic sister. Rrrrrgh, damn it, gotta get out of this jam. Think. THINK!_

It finally hit. Dillon forgot to pin Mark's legs: A fatal mistake. Dillon was about to holler for Betty to keep it down when pain shot all throughout the center mass of his body. He let go of Mark, slumping over in sheer agony. That's when he felt his head being grabbed on both sides. A split second later, his vision went dark and a rumbling headache rocked the insides of his skull. He fell back on the floor, his hands over his forehead as the headache failed to subside. He removed his hands as his vision slowly returned. Mark was on him an instant later, fists slamming into his face. Dillon didn't even have time to put his hands up in front of his face. Mark had succeeded in pinning his arms with his knees.

Ten punches to the face later, Mark stopped for a breather. He looked at his blood covered fists and felt no guilt or remorse. If anything, he felt obligated to give his crazy cousin another barrage. Dillon had just tried raping him again and had endangered his brother and their two best friends. He deserved no pity or mercy.

He was about to do just that when he remembered that Betty was still out there with Jared, Max and Derry. Without making sure Dillon was down and out, he dashed out into the hall to find Jared and Derry staring down a crazed Betty holding Max hostage with a knife.

"What happened?" Mark demanded.

"Goddamn Betty took us by surprise. Grabbed Max before we could do anything," said Jared.

"Damn," muttered Mark. This was a bad situation for all of them. Betty was twice as crazy as Dillon and would go to any length to satisfy his needs, even if that meant inflicting serious harm on someone to do so. But Betty had one weakness that always rendered her useless…a weakness that Mark well aware of as he spotted an antique porcelain vase sitting on a pedestal next to him.

Things weren't going to be that easy however, as Dillon came out of the entertainment room hobbling in pain and holding his crotch still, his face covered in blood.

"Oooooooohhhhh…Oooooowwwww…that hurt," muttered Dillon through clenched teeth. "Now…the both of yall…are REALLY gonna get it!"

"Damn straight!" added Betty. "Now, if you don't want your sweet purty lil friend here to go to an early grave, you gonna do everything we say, exactly as we say. Got it?" she finished, pushing the knife deeper into her neck.

"HELP!" Max screamed in terror.

"Hang on Max! I'll get you out of there!" screamed Jared as he desperately looked for something, anything to use to free Max from Betty's grasp.

"Oh now, you won't be doin nuttin like that…at least not until we have our fun with you two," said Dillon reassuringly.

Mark finally knew it was now or never. There was no mistaking it: This was a life or death situation. If he didn't act now, he would surely regret it until the day he died. Despite his friends and brother being in danger, he was surprisingly calm and collected as he turned to Betty with a calm look that quickly turned to a look of shock.

"Betty! There's a bug on you!" shrieked Mark.

Betty being terrified of bugs and jumping into a seizure-driven frenzy at even the slightest mentioning on the word 'bug' broke out into a mess of flailing limbs and shrieks, desperately trying to get the bug that wasn't there off of her, allowing Max to get away, miraculously managing to not get cut by the knife Betty was holding. Mark on the other hands was quick to grab the porcelain vase off the pedestal and throw it with all his might at her. She saw it just out of the corner of her eye as it struck her left cheek, splintering with such force, Betty was immediately thrown to the ground, screaming in agony, holding her cheek that was bleeding profusely with several porcelain shards impeded into it.

"BETTY!" Dillon cried out only just registering what had happened. "Why you little piece of…" Mark was quick to react to this too as he spun around, delivering a kick to Dillon crotch and quickly following up with a roundhouse kick to his face.

Betty and Dillon were both down for the count. At this point, it may have seemed like there was still no chance to run as both deranged hillbillies had boxed the four kids in on the walkway with the only escape route being a 10 foot drop off the walkway, but thankfully, Betty had been right next to the staircase when the vase hit her and went tumbling down the staircase.

Realizing this, Mark screamed "Everyone, break for my room!" The four of them dashed to the other side of the house where Mark's room was located. Mark made sure the other three were inside before he stated he needed to get something from Jared's room. He came back fifteen seconds later and they immediately blocked the door with whatever they could find or move. Finally, they all sat in the center of the room to discuss what to do next.

"Ok, what now?" said Jared in a slightly panicked voice.

"Should we call the police?" asked Max.

"No, in fact you three will not be doing anything. Leave it all to me," said Mark reassuringly. He suddenly had three pairs of eyes viewing him as though he was the psycho.

"Are you fucking crazy!" screamed Jared.

"Yea man, you tryin to get yourself killed?" added Derry.

"They're right you know," said Max, backing the two boys up. "I know you wanna go and play tough guy but this isn't the time for that. This is a real situation with real danger. It's not like Killzone where you can just re-spawn."

As Max was saying this, Mark's head was gradually lowering. He was becoming angry, not due to a feeling of powerlessness, but the feeling of people doubting him. He hated how people always doubted him and his abilities and had no faith in him, rather seeking help from someone else just because they were an "adult." Too long had he taken constant moral beat-downs, but coming from someone two years younger than him finally made him snap.

"So why don't you just stop trying to be the hero for once and…"

"Shut up!" Mark snapped, a very angry tone in his voice

Max stopped, frozen mid-speech by the sudden anger in Mark's voice.

"Let me tell you something 'Miss Infinite Wisdom.' I for one am absolutely sick and tired of everyone always doubting me, thinking I can't do it just because I'm a kid. You all think I'm so helpless, well ask yourself this: Who the fuck just saved your lives? Yours in particular Maxine."

At this, Max stepped down, beaten. Mark on the other hand was on his feet now, a confident look in his face.

"You wanna call the cops? Go right ahead but there's no point in doing so as they'll be nothing left for them to collect by the time I'm through with those two."

Everyone just sat silent, staring at Mark as he walked to the window, dropping the phone along his way. Outside on the balcony of his room, he found the cable he used to rappel down from his room onto the ground right where he left it. He rappelled down, landing right in front of the back door, which lead into the kitchen. The kitchen door was locked but thankfully, he always kept a spare key in the potted plant next to the door.

He walked through the kitchen and hallway out into the main hall and found Dillon standing in the center of the main hall with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. This was it. Knowing Dillon and Betty, this was about to become life-threatening serious. He pissed them off a little too much. Now they would aim to kill.

"So where's your crazy bitch of a sister?" he asked.

"Oh she's around," replied Dillon in a wandering tone.

"Oh really? Where might this 'around' be?" said Mark, his eyes darting back and forth searching for some kind of movement.

"Look up," Dillon said flatly.

Mark's head jerked up only to see Betty falling toward him, a massive kitchen knife in her hand. Mark rolled to the side as fast as his body would enable him to move. However, that was what Betty wanted him to do as she never intended to strike with the knife of her way down. She landed flatly on her feet and jumped right after him. As soon as Mark recovered from the roll, Betty had already grabbed him by the neck and pinned him against the wall. Mark didn't know how he did it, but as soon as he saw the knife come hurling toward him, he raised his left arm and collided with Betty's knife arm, driving the knife into the wall next to him a mere two inches away from his head. At this point, Mark could feel his heart hammering against his chest, his whole body trembling with…what? Fear? Adrenaline? No time to think to think. Betty was already trying to get the knife out of the wall, tightening her grip on Mark's neck, making him gag. It wouldn't be long before she got it out. He knew he wouldn't have a second chance. Mark quickly reached into his right pocket to make sure…yes, it was still there. Betty on the other hand, had freed the knife and was posing for another strike.

"Hey Betty," Mark managed to say half-choked.

Betty stopped. "Got any last words to sayda me punk?"

"Yeah…SURPRISE!" Mark shouted as he lifted Jared's pet tarantula in front of her face. Before she was able to scream, Mark ripped open the top section of her shirt and stuffed the spider into it.

Betty stood there frozen for about five seconds. For an instant, Mark had though it wouldn't work. He couldn't have been more wrong. Betty dropped the knife. A split-second later, she dropped him. His windpipe's sudden un-blockage sent him gasping for the air his body had been deprived of for the last minute, leaving his ears exposed to the full-blown, glass shattering screech that came afterwards. He looked up, covering his ears, only to see Betty in a state of panic that would have killed any ordinary person. She was jumping in the air, rolling around on the floor, smacking herself against the walls, floor, objects, anything to get that damned ugly creature as far away from herself as possible. Mark and Dillon just stood there, dumb-founded to the event unfolding before their eyes. Their jaws literally hitting the floor. This continued for a full minute before Betty made a mad dash for the front door. She practically flung herself outside, stripping her clothes off, searching desperately to find the hopefully dead spider that was still attached to her.

As Dillon watched his sister run outside with a look of fear on her face he had never seen on her before, he started to run after her until he heard an almost animal voice behind him.

"Where do you think **you're** going!"

Dillon stopped, frozen by a level of fear he had never felt before. That was the same tone he heard earlier when he was spying on him and Jared. Dillon knew it was over at that point.

"This has gone far enough. You tried to rape me again. You endangered the lives of me, my brother, our two best friends. You terrorized my home one-too-many times. You even tried to **kill** me!"

Mark cracked his knuckles. "But most importantly, you…are goin **down** mother fucker!"

Dillon was too frozen by fear to even move as he felt Mark deliver what felt like a steel wall into his gut. All the air escaped him. His vision went dark again and he soon felt pain shoot throughout his jaw as Mark delivered an iron uppercut to him, followed by a leg sweep, knocking him to the ground. Mark then proceeded to continuously hammer Dillon, punching him over and over again until he could no longer feel his arms. He then picked up the cable he used to rappel from his room and hog-tied Dillon who was now a bloody, almost lifeless mess. He then dragged Dillon upstairs through the attic and on to the roof, where a working catapult replica that Mark had made himself awaited. Mark generally used it to launch inanimate objects whenever he was bored. This time though, it would receive something a bit more satisfying.

He stuffed Dillon into the bowl of the beam and pulled the roped back as far as he could, then secured it to the roller. He then picked up the nearby machete which would be used to cut the rope. Normally he wouldn't do this, but he wanted to give Dillon a real run for his money. He walked over to Dillon and raised the machete. Dillon was looking back at him.

Mark stared straight into his eyes as he said "If you ever come back here again, I swear the police will be taking you away in a trash bag, and that's a **promise**. Do you get me?"

Dillon managed a weak nod. Mark turned back to the rope and brought the machete down hard. The rope instantly snapped, and the catapult beam went flying forward, snapping in two as it hit the frame of the body. Dillon went further than Mark had ever seen any object go. Within mere seconds, Dillon was out of sight as he crash-landed into a forest just outside the walls of Federation city. Mark sat there for a minute, reflecting on what had happened in the past ten minutes, his body calming down. Finally, it occurred to him. He stood up, looking in the direction Dillon just went flying in.

"Bye! Don't forget to write!" Mark said smartly. The adrenaline drained, the fatigue finally hit him. His almost fell onto the floor. "Ohhh…ow…ow ow ow…" He just sat there, in pain. Everything in him hurt. His hands and shirt were covered in blood. He wanted to forget this whole day, but he had to do something first. He was just about to get up and go tell Jared the good news when he heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and fast, too fast to react.

A Federation SWAT team member burst through the door, his gun aimed and ready to spit death at the all too familiar threat he was well aware of. Instead, he stopped, seeing a blood-soaked child sitting there on the ground.

"You kinda missed the party by like…five seconds," said Mark, a weak grin on his face. Relieved to know help had finally arrived, even if a little too late, That's the last thing he could remember before blacking out, his body collapsing from physical and mental exhaustion.

* * *

He woke up in an ambulance, his whole body still sore. He wasn't taken to the hospital, as there was nothing wrong with him. The four of them spent the rest of the day being asked a series of questions pertaining to the events of the incident, meanwhile asking questions of their own. Turns out Betty had stripped off all her clothes trying to get the spider off, when it fell out of her shirt when she was still inside. She stopped freaking out when she heard guns cock. Standing before her was an entire SWAT team. She was pinned to the ground when she realized she was naked. Too embarrassed to fight back, she gave up as the police hauled her away to the maximum security holding facility.

Derry's and Max's parents were notified while Harold couldn't be reached. Mark and Jared decided to keep the events of that day a secret although the broken vase and blood stains would give clues. While Max practically jumped into the arms of her parents when they showed up, Derry was only embarrassed as his mom hugged him in front of the police. Jared just smiled at Max as he saw her parents hug her tightly until Mark brought it up, smiling his own devilish grin. Max went home with her parents but Derry stayed behind stating the day wasn't over yet and that he wanted to get some measure of fun out of all this.

"Well, glad that's over," said Mark as the three boys watched the police drive away.

"Yeah me too," added Jared. "One thing's for sure though, we've got some explaining to do to the old lady. I don't think he won't notice the now missing vase."

"Yeah…if the cops don't notify him first…well…no, that might actually be a good thing. Saves us the trouble of having to conjure up some half-assed explanation." replied Mark.

"Whadda ya say we just go back upstairs or something?" Derry added in, trying to break the mood.

With the house finally quiet again, the three boys sat down on the couch in the entertainment room, when they realized the Xbox 360 had gotten the RROD.

"Aww man," Derry said.

"Great, first the Killzone servers shut down and now this," Mark said in his normal annoyed tone. He let out a heavy sigh.

"So, who wants to play Warhawk?"

NOTE: Next chapter will introduce Naruto characters. This was just to let you get a feel of who the main characters were as well as others who will play important roles down the line.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Just for the record, I DO **NOT OWN** NOR AM I **ASSOCIATED** WITH **ANY **OF THE VIDEO GAME, MANGA, ANIME OR ANY OTHER UNIVERSE(S) THAT I **MAY** AND **POSSIBLY** WILL MENTION IN THIS STORY INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING: VIDEO GAMES, MOVIES, TV SHOWS, MUSIC, BANDS, ACTORS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, COMPAINES, STORES, CORPORATIONS OR **ANYTHING ELSE** THAT I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN HERE NOR DO I MAKE MONEY OFF OF **ANYTHING** MENTIONED HERE.

**The Johnson Brothers**

Chapter 2

"Man I'm bored," said Mark.

Jared perked up. "You? Bored? That's my line idiot" he said defensively.

"Yeah? Well get over it loser," Mark replied. "The impossible has happened. I'm bored. Whoopty doo. I can't help it. It's been over a week since the Killzone 2 servers were 'temporarily' shut down and still nothing. Not the slightest sign of coming back online. I mean Warhawk is good and all, but that can only last so long. I NEED Killzone 2."

Jared just gave him a flat look. "Man, what is it with you and Killzone 2? Ever since it came out, that's all you've been thinking about. That's all you ever play and you sit there on the Killzone 2 website hitting the refresh button every five second waiting for a new update on the Steel and Titanium pack. Christ, what is it that you see in Killzone 2 that you absolutely need to survive?" he finished, almost out of breath.

"Hmmm…ok. How should I put this?" Mark thought for a moment, "Ah I got it! Ok, you know how much you like hash with hot sauce?"

Jared slowly nodded, "Ok then, imagine a world **without** hot sauce. Then you'd be forced to eat only the **hash** instead of fattening it up with the tasty Tabasco sauce you love so much."

Jared's eyes widened. His breathing quickened. The look on his face changed from perplexed to fearful. Meanwhile, Mark's eyebrows were raised, waiting for an answer.

He finally caved, "Ok ok, I get it."

Mark laid back on the couch, a big grin on his face. "_Well maybe this day dosen't __**totally **__suck," _he thought to himself. He always did enjoy harassing Jared needlessly.

* * *

"Wow, it's so beautiful. Are you sure it's the right place Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Yes Sakura, this is the right one," replied Kakashi. Meanwhile, Naruto was absolutely speechless and even Sasuke himself was a little stunned. When Team 7 had volunteered for the exchange program between the UEF and the Shinobi Nations, they knew that they would be going to a city, but they never imagined a city of this scale.

* * *

The UEF had discovered the Five Great Shinobi Nations 10 years ago by complete accident. A recon team had accidently stumbled into an unmarked area on the world map that was never able to be analyzed due to a mysterious unknown interference from within the area itself. The Federation had deemed this the work of the Helghast and had strongly advised avoiding travel there.

The recon team on the other hand, had accidently taken a wrong turn on their patrol path and had wandered into the area. Realizing they had taken a wrong turn, an attempt was made to contact their outpost for directions. Being unable to radio for assistance due to the interference, the team became lost inside a dense, ever-changing forest and soon stumbled across a group of shinobi training. Before being discovered by a passing patrol, they witnessed all sorts of fighting styles and ninjutsu being used. When discovered though, immediate reactions from the shinobi were hostile. The shinobi of Konohagakure had mistaken the lost recon team for sound ninja spies and immediately attacked, killing two of the six-man recon team. The team returned fire, killing a few shinobi and fled the way they came. Only one man was able to make it out.

When questioned about the events pertaining to the mysterious zone as well as the attack on his recon team, he spoke of people that could jump from tree to tree, even run up trees, stand on water, and create fire and lightning out of thin air by merely making hand signs. He also explained that when his team returned fire, it seemed as though the attackers were completely taken by surprise when fired upon, like they had never even seen a gun before. He was also unaware of happened to the rest of his squad but was sure they were killed.

At first he was perceived as crazy. The only thing that made sense was the possibility of human life. The Federation decided to chance it and sent in a recon APC with another team to confirm the presence of other human life and to find the rest of the recon team. The APC entered the unknown sector, establishing a communication beacon inside and outside the border of the area, and connecting the two with a fiber-optic cable in hopes of penetrating whatever was blocking the communication signal. In short, it worked. The APC when sending a transmission sent it to the inside beacon. The data was then transferred to the outside beacon via the fiber-optic cable and sent to the outpost. The second recon team was able to communicate with the outpost perfectly. However, aside of a transmission to confirm their entry into the sector, no other communication was obtained or received. Two days later, both communication beacons went offline as well.

In response, a battle group was assembled, consisting of X-66 Mammoth tanks and Orca Gunships. Unfortunately for the Federation, word of this new threat had already reached Konoha and Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current and third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village at the time. By the time the battle group had arrived, the shinobi had prepared for them. Unfortunately for the shinobi, they knew little about combating Federation infantry, let alone heavily armored tanks and air support. Still, the same could be said for the Federation forces. While the kunai, shuriken and even the explosive kunai did little against the tanks and heavy gunships, the more powerful ninjutsu were able to heavily damage and even destroy some of the Federation forces. As for the shinobi, they were woefully unprepared to face the raw, tree/rock shredding power of the Orca's 30mm Chain-gun or the immense blast radius of the 4.75-inch missile pods mounted on every Mammoth tank. In the end, Federation casualties were light but for the shinobi, only one person out of the 30 man platoon had survived and an entire acre of forest had been leveled.

News of the battle had reached both sides. The Hokage himself had visited the site shortly after and the Federation commanders had personally taken a look at the footage from the battle. News of this new contact had also reached the general population on both sides. Moods were nervous, anxious, and fearful. The nightmare of another war was emerging and many back in the Federation territories were against another war. Some stated that their current situation made it impossible to fight a war on two fronts, while others feared that if Helghast found out in even the remotest way, that opened up a massive fuel to source for re-building their numbers quickly as it was unknown if the people living had experienced any contact with them. However, just as the two sides were preparing to go all-out against each-other, the Hokage stepped forward. He explained who he was, who the shinobi were and that all these events were caused by a mere misidentification on the shinobi's part. He also said that he wanted to meet with the Federation commanders in an attempt to resolve the current issues before they grew out of hand and a war was started.

Both the brass and the President of the Federation met to vote on it. In due time, they reluctantly agreed, believing it was best to avoid making a new enemy and a possible new ally for the Helghast. The meeting location was a make-shift set-up on the area where the previous battle had taken place. Both sides had protection lurking in the shadows, ready to tear the place apart in case either side got out of hand.

At the meeting, tension levels were high. Despite this though, war was averted. Both sides settled their grievances. Konoha, believing themselves to have caused all this, even if by accident, they agreed to turn over the survivors of the first recon team taken captive, as well as the entire second recon team and all the technology Konoha had collected from the battles. They were also not to continue research on any of the Federation weapons or technology they had collected and were to turn over what little research they had done so far. That was it. After that, the Federation surprisingly left the five Great Shinobi Nations alone.

Still, certain people didn't wish to see it end there. Some felt as though the Federation should seek an alliance with the five Great Shinobi Nations as they could prove a useful ally in the war against the Helghast. Other saw it as a way to learn their secrets and techniques and that alone could prove invaluable against the Helghast. Nevertheless, two such people who thought and alliance would help were Randall and Mary Johnson, the Johnson brothers parents. Although their reasons for desiring an alliance were unclear, they held great influence in the Federation. Still, even this wasn't enough to persuade the brass to let them into Federation territory, at least on a large scale. That's when they suggested a very small co-habit of sorts, like a foreign exchange student program only on a very miniscule scale. Their plan was to allow only a small group of shinobi come and live in Federation territory for a short while in a heavily monitored environment. At first, their time in the Federation would be brief and they would only be allowed to stay in the major cities where they could be closely monitored. After taking all the possibilities and drawback into consideration, as well as years of negotiations that led almost nowhere, the Federation finally accepted their proposal.

Konoha on the other hand wasn't so sure how to proceed. The Federation would only allow one four man team to enter and they were to only enter Federation City. The Third Hokage wouldn't force anyone to go, so he ultimately decided to leave it to the element of volunteering. Thanks to Naruto's big mouth however, it was Team 7 who half willingly, half unwillingly went. The two scientists had arranged for transportation to take them there. They were given instructions on how to get to the Federation outpost the Johnson couple was there to personally greet them when the plane came to pick them up. On their way there, Team 7 had been given a complete description on where they were going, where they'd be staying, the whole nine yards. Team 7 was stunned. The plane, the flight, the cityscape, it was unlike anything they had ever experienced. Even Sasuke couldn't dismiss the intrigue he felt by the whole experience. Team 7 was then given a ride to where they would be staying: The Johnson Brothers house. The couple told them they believed that it would be a wonderful, compelling experience to have "A whole new culture" at their house. They even ran it by Harold who saw no problems with it. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Mark and Jared that.

* * *

Mark, having achieved yet another victory over Jared, was just about to go to the roof when he heard the front door open. He froze mid-stride.

"_Uh-oh,"_ he thought. That meant one thing: Their parents were home, something they never do unless there's a serious problem. Whenever Harold came home, he always used the side-door.

Luckily, relief flooded into him he heard Harold's voice. "Yo Mark, Jared, come down here. We got guests."

Now Mark was intrigued. If guests were here, that meant that his parents in fact home but still…they were almost never called to the front door. This was something different, something that meant the two young brothers would be involved with these guests somehow. The two brothers exchanged glances quickly then walked out onto the outer stairway to see Harold, their parents and four oddly dressed people standing there. Three of them were guys and there was one girl. The tallest one, who seemed to be the leader of the group had grey hair, a mask over the bottom Mark half of his face, and headband that covered one of his eyes, and sported a blue pair of pants and shirt while wearing a green vest and was reading a book of sorts. The rest of them were kids, no older than Mark. One of them sported an orange outfit, and had bright blond hair, while the one standing next to him had raven black hair, and was wearing beige colored shorts with a light blue shirt. The girl however, sported long, pink hair, a red qipao dress with white circular designs and dark green shorts.

"Marcus, Jared, this is Shinobi Team 7 from Konohagakure in the Land of Fire in the Five Great Shinobi Nations. I'm sorry we forgot to tell you, but the your father and I thought it a wonderful idea to be the first in the co-habituating plan between the Federation and the Five Shinobi Nations so for the next two weeks we have guests," said their mother.

They walked down to where Harold and Team 7 were and just stood there, speechless at the fact that they had a group of people from a completely foreign in their house who would be staying with them and at the fact that it all happened without them knowing until now.

Still, that didn't stop Jared from saying "You sure these are the actual ninja's and not some guys heading for a costume party at tech-noir?"

"Jared!" Mary gasped.

Mark's quickly tossed glances back and forth between Jared and Team 7, trying to give the impression that it wasn't his idea to say that. Harold put his hand over his forehead, fully expecting, yet in disbelief at what Jared said. The orange-haired kid tilted his head to the right with an odd, curios expression on his face while the black-haired kid just shot Jared a thin face. The girl looked at what she was wearing and seemed both embarrassed and insulted while the grey-haired man showed no change in expression.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, the orange-haired kid scream "OOH! OHH! A COSTUME PARTY? WHERE? I WANNA GO!"

Everyone just started at the orange-haired kid in total disbelief that he actually took what Jared said seriously. The black-haired kid then said "Naruto, you're an idiot, you know that?"

_Naruto? _Mark thought, _That's an odd name…_

Naruto simply shot him a stupid glare, tempting the black-haired kid to call him an idiot again. That's when Jared, once again, said "You guys **sure **you're not going to-" Before he could finish, Mark conked him over the head.

"Shut-up idiot," he said. He then turned his attention toward Team 7 and said "My my, where are my manners? The name's Marcus Calvin Johnson but you can all call me Mark," he said proudly.

The first person to step forward was the pink haired girl. For some reason, Mark's full attention was immediately turned to the girl. He wasn't exactly quite expecting that.

"Hi there, I'm Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you Mark." Mark was going to say something back but found himself unable to speak. He just stood there, his focus gazing into here green emerald eyes. It wasn't the beauty of her physical appearance that had him mesmerized; it was something else, something completely different. It was the way she had just greeted him. Not since as far back as he could remember could he recall being greeted in such a kind, genuine way. Her tone wasn't exactly the most warming, but as he started into her eyes he saw that her greeting was kind, genuine, something he had never seen before.

Time seemed to freeze as he started into her eyes. He was desperately searching for something, anything to say. He couldn't. Despite all his knowledge, he was unable to think of a way to return the kindness he had just been given…at least until the orange-haired kid bumped her out of the way, accidently sending her crashing to the floor before belting out, "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

Only then, did Naruto realize that he had pushed Sakura to the ground and just as he was about to try and help her up when she bolted up from the ground and delivered a haymaker to his face, sending him flying into the far wall.

"Naruto, you jerk!" she screamed as she delivered the blow. Mark and Harold were completely shocked by this, while Jared burst out laughing after his jaw dropped for about 2 seconds.

"Wow…" said Mark in total shock. "That…was…awesome! Sakura you rock!" he finished, amazed. Sakura looked at him and blushed a little. She wasn't used to people giving her compliments for stunts like that.

Just then, the black-haired kid walked towards Mark and held out his hand. "Sasuke Uchiha," he said. Mark shook his hand but it wasn't the same as Sakura's greeting. It was almost as if Sasuke was trying to analyze him in a way. Trying to see whether he was down to earth or not. No, it wasn't that, it was…damn it! Mark couldn't figure this guy out. It was a personality, a past far more complex than his own and it wasn't his lack of understanding of people either. The best understanding of people in the world wouldn't have done him any good in this situation. This Sasuke kid was far too complicated for Mark. However, there was one thing that stood out: Pain. This kid had a lot of it built up inside and it was a time bomb just begging to explode.

Sasuke let go and Mark turned his attention toward the grey-haired man. "You can call me Kakashi" he said in a calm, cool tone, the bulk of his attention focused in his book.

Before Mark could say anything, Sakura quickly pulled him aside. "He's not one to show much emotion, if at all, just to letcha know ahead of time."

"Ah...ok, thanks," replied Mark.

Finally, Harold spoke up, "Uh…hey, everyone. Sorry to bail on such short notice but I gotta go again."

"Again?" Mark said flatly.

"Yeah, my girlfriend's car still isn't fixed so I gotta play chauffer again. Well, see ya later," he said as he walked out the door.

"Expect to hear that excuse a lot. His girlfriend's car ALWAYS seems to break down."

"You do know that he's telling the truth, right?" asked Kakashi.

Mark looked at the door before saying "Man that must be one un-reliable car…"

Jared finally spoke up, "So, you want me and Mark to show you around?"

"Sure," replied Sakura.

Mark and his parents looked at his younger brother. This was quite unusual for Jared. Normally, it was Mark who made that offer. That's when he knew something was very different about these new guests. Jared wouldn't make that offer to just anyone.

* * *

Despite having Jared's help, it took a full hour to give a complete tour of the house-minus their parent's private office and the attic-thanks to the massive outdoor area. The house itself was so massive, there was a 25-foot solid stone wall built around the entire complex with a massive iron gate out in the front. Since their parents were high-ranking scientists of the Federation (almost too busy to even come home,) this was done to insure privacy and protection for the whole complex. There was even a laser grid system covering the grass outside the walls as well as the gate when closed. When the grid was tripped by any sizeable mass, it automatically alerted the nearby Federation police. Luckily, to avoid bringing the whole department down in the event of a squirrel tripping it, there were security camera's as well military base-grade weapon detectors of all kinds built into the wall. In short, the wall itself acted like a smart protective bubble all in its own with the only blind-spots being the directly above the complex and the possible existence of an old pre-war abandoned sewer tunnel that ran right underneath the house. Attempts to locate it were unsuccessful.

Adding to that were the massive woodland areas and gardens contained and maintained within the perimeter, including a full hedge maze almost as tall as the wall itself. Mark and Jared had heard a few really bizarre and downright creepy rumors about the maze. They had heard everything ranging from guests disappearing in the maze and never being found to the possibility of some kind of switch in the underground portion of the center of the maze that when activated, opened a door in the main hall that lead to the basement to which They were forbidden to go unless it were the most extreme of circumstances. Mark had tried to find this mysterious switch many times, but turned up unsuccessful in finding even a whisper of its existence. He still believed it existed though. The door, located on the right tunnel of the main hall which lead into the ballroom was always locked, heavily fortified and sound-proof. Whenever he knocked on the door, he heard no sound. The door had to be at least ¼ of a meter thick. That all but confirmed there was something down there.

The house itself was huge, spanning three massive levels, four if you included the locked basement. The exterior was made out of brick while the inside materials ranged from solid mahogany to medieval-style décor with eighteenth century Persian-style carpeting. When you first walked through the front door, you entered the main hall. Oh either side was a staircase which lead all the way up to a walkway which outlined the whole of the main hall, with doors leading to various rooms on the second level and one door leading to the attic. Directly ahead, there were two tunnels directly underneath where the two staircases met. The right side led into a ball-room/library/"living room" which had two doors, the right leading to a giant swimming pool, and the left leading to the dining room. The left tunnel lead directly to the dining room, while a door on the left lead into the kitchen. Aside of this, there were numerous bookshelves, antiques, statues and all other sorts of odds and ends scattered about the house.

However, despite what may have seemed like a family living in a castle, Mark and Jared knew that it was only meant for all the rich and powerful guests who came over on rare occasions for fancy dinners, which the Johnson brothers were routinely banned from. It was a cover-up and there was something much more shady going on in the background. At times, they even felt liked they were being watched by someone or something, sometimes even too scared to move around. As the tour was underway, Mark could sense that Sasuke had definitely picked up on something while Naruto's full attention was focused on the exquisite cover-up; as everyone else in Team 7 had predicted. Mark couldn't figure Kakashi out though, as he showed no signs of change in his facial expressions (What little of his face was showing) or tone of voice. In fact, he showed no interest in the tour at all. His main center of focus was in his book, which was in a language Mark couldn't read. Guess Sakura's advice was spot-on. As for Sakura though, she was the hardest to figure. While he wasn't definite, he could tell there was a solid chance she had picked up on something, but even if she was acting, she was doing a very convincing job at hiding it.

Despite this, the tour went well. After that, Team 7 was shown the guest area where they set up their respective bedrooms. Kakashi disappeared shortly after and the parents left the five kids to interact. Jared immediately ran off with Naruto, but Mark was a different story. He knew that he wanted to show Sakura what his daily life was like and teach her all about life in Federation City but was still unsure of how to say it.

"Uhh…Sakura?" he asked.

"Yea, what is it?" she replied.

"Umm…I was wondering if…you…uhh…wanted to go and look at…uhh…that thing," he said pointing to a massive wall of books with a statue next to it. "…and then I could…uhh…damn it, what's the word I'm looking for?" he continued, struggling to think of what he wanted to say.

"Ok, let me get this straight," she said. "You want to teach me pretty much everything there is to know about your life and culture here, is that right?"

"Yes! That's right! That's exactly what I wanted to say," he finished, trying to dismiss his stuttering. As he started to walk towards the massive bookshelf in the library section of the living room, Mark thought to himself _"Damn it! Why can't I talk to her? What is it about her that makes me stutter so much?" _

Sakura however had asked Sasuke if he wanted to join them to which Sasuke agreed. Much to Mark surprise, that made everything so much easier. He suddenly found himself able to speak clearly without stuttering. He was able to focus on the topics at hand without becoming distracted, even when Sakura asked him a question. He found himself able to talk with her during the whole session. It completely bewildered him but he was grateful nonetheless. The rest of the day was spent with Mark educating Sasuke and Sakura about the lifestyle in Federation City, everything ranging from daily activities, to hobbies, to traditions of their culture, as well as what being a citizen in Federation City was like. He also explained what the law and military systems were like as best he could, despite lacking-what he considered-sufficient knowledge of both systems, as well as the school systems.

He did not however, mention the Helghast or the current state of the world, as talking about them was virtually forbidden thanks to a few false scares and pranks a couple of mindless jokers had pulled in the last few years. It wasn't illegal yet but anyone who spoke of them outside an assembly or a news outlet didn't receive good reception from the surrounding locals. Mark personally thought it was not only complete bullshit but that it gave the Helghast a moral advantage. If people were scared of just talking about them, what would happen once they attacked? He wondered if people would have the courage to fight back, or if they would easily submit.

Sasuke and Sakura found the lecture very educating and informative. Kakashi even stopped by a few times to listen in. They frequently compared life in Federation City to their own, exchanging the functions of their society with Mark but questioned the school and military systems. They found it puzzling that kids remained in school until age eighteen and that being a soldier in the military wasn't passed down from generation to generation. They also found it odd that kids weren't trained to fight from day one. Mark simply explained that the military wasn't something that was heavily integrated into their society and the military was seen almost as a separate world by many. There was no obligation to go into the military and he had no plans of going in himself.

By the end of the lecture, it was already late at night, and they all decided to call it a night. Once again, Mark tried to say something to Sakura, but found himself speechless once again. The thing that hurt the most though, was that he knew Sakura was fully aware of it. He had also picked up the jest that she was infatuated with Sasuke and feared that he would lose his chance with her. He knew he had time though, as Sasuke wasn't the least bit interested in Sakura…but he wondered just how long that would last.

Before Mark went to bed, he decided to check one last time if the Killzone 2 servers had been brought back online. He checked: no avail.

"_Jesus," _he thought. _"When __**are **__these damn servers going to be back online?"_

Just then, he heard the door open. "Hey Mark, you still up?" said Jared.

"Yeah, just wanting to see if the Killzone 2 servers were back up but I guess not…what a surprise…" replied Mark.

Jared sat down on the couch while Mark turned the TV and console off.

"Hey Mark,"

"Yeah what's up?"

"What do you think of our new guests?"

"Well I can definitely say it came as a complete surprise. Of course what can you expect with folks like ours?" said Mark.

"True…so, what did you teach Sasuke and Sakura in that super-uber-long lecture you gave them?"

Mark shot him a thin face, "Everything you could ever want to know about life here…to best of my knowledge. You?"

"Oh, Naruto and I shared a few things. I showed him some of my music, tried teaching him how to skateboard which didn't go over so well," he said laughing. "Then we talked about what we do in our various lives and I learned some interesting things about his hometown called Konohagakure which means 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves' and we also talked about our various goals and dreams for the future. He's got some interesting ones. He wants to become the leader of the village someday."

"So you guys shared personal stuff eh? That's something I never got around to doing," said Mark. "So what do you think of them?"

'Well…Naruto and I are a perfect match personality-wise," said Jared.

"Ditto," replied Mark

"Sasuke however is very different. He's distant, anti-social and just plain creepy. I don't why Sakura's infatuated with him. Just the way she looks at him. She follows him like the pied piper and worships everything he says as if he a god of sorts. I'm amazed that with all her smarts, she can't see him for who he really is."

"I do find that strange myself," said Mark. "Ah well, maybe it's just a girl thing. One thing's for sure though, I don't trust Sasuke a fucking inch."

"And Naruto?" asked Jared.

"Naruto's a good kid at heart but it's covered by a layer of stupidity. If he could just get rid of that, he'd be a really decent person someday."

"What about Sakura?"

Mark froze for a minute. "That's the only one of them I'm having trouble with."

"What do you mean?" Jared asked perplexed.

"I don't know why but every time I try and simply talk to her, I can't. I end up stuttering and sometimes I can't even mouth a coherent word. I just don't get it. When Sasuke was there, it was fine but as soon as he left, it happened again. I just don't fucking understand! Why am I like this? Ever since she greeted me it's been like this…"

Jared thought about it for a few minutes: _Stutters whenever attempting to communicate. Able to speak when other people present, can't explain why these actions are triggered, dosen't understand it himself_…then it clicked. Jared calmly looked at Mark. He knew what he was about to say would change his way of thinking forever and he didn't care. Maybe it could get him to stop obsessing over Killzone 2 for five minutes.

"You like her. That's what it is," said Jared.

Mark froze, an utter look of shock on his face. He felt his heart rate shoot up like a rocket. Was it real? Did he actually genuinely like someone? Did he have actual feelings for someone aside of himself?

"I…can't believe it…" he finally managed to say.

"Well you should," said Jared reassuringly. "She's the first person outside the immediate family to show you genuine kindness. You've never met anyone like this before. It comes as a complete shock as you're not used to this kind of behavior portrayed towards you. But deep down inside, whether you know it or not, it's what your soul has been searching for all along: Someone to care for you, to love you, someone you can share happiness and sadness with, someone to share you true thoughts and feelings with." He paused for a minute:

Mark slumped back on the couch, stumped by what just came over him. He finally knew the source of his inner loneliness, why he was never able to make friends, what he had spent so much time longing for. All he wanted was for someone who would care for him, who he could care for. He wanted someone whom he could open up to, a person that he wouldn't have to distance himself from.

"Someone to love," Jared finally said.

Mark looked at his younger brother. The chances of Jared showing slight signs of maturity were slim to none. The chances of him displaying it were like combining the chances of seeing Sally's comet and a full solar eclipse in the same year. You almost never saw it, but when you did, it changed you forever, for the better.

"Jared I…" he was about to say something but Jared stopped him short.

"Mark just shut-up and reflect on what I said, ok?"

Mark slowly nodded. Jared turned and walked to the door. He stopped as he opened it. "One more thing; don't rush it. Start off as friends and see where it goes from there. Just because you have these feelings now, doesn't mean you always will. It could change in an instant tomorrow and not always for the better."

With that he strode out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Mark fell sideways on the couch. He didn't sleep a wink that night. He just sat there, reflecting on what Jared had said. As he lay there deep in thought, he knew that there would be major changes coming in his life soon. The one thing that was gripping at his conscience though was the question of whether these changes would be for better or for worse. However, the one question he did have an answer to was what he would ask Sakura the next morning…

* * *

Elsewhere, up on the roof of the Johnson brothers mansion, Kakashi watched the starts, wondering how and why he wound up in this situation. The stars contained no answers to his question. He was unsure of whether it was fate that brought him here or whether it was a carefully planned setup. Just someone aching to start a world war between his kind and theirs. One thing he was sure of however, was that he was being watched…and not just by the Federation.

Their surveillance cameras didn't sport a pair of glowing red eyes.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Just for the record, I DO **NOT OWN** NOR AM I **ASSOCIATED** WITH **ANY **OF THE VIDEO GAME, MANGA, ANIME OR ANY OTHER UNIVERSE(S) THAT I **MAY** AND **POSSIBLY** WILL MENTION IN THIS STORY INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING: VIDEO GAMES, MOVIES, TV SHOWS, MUSIC, BANDS, ACTORS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, COMPAINES, STORES, CORPORATIONS OR **ANYTHING ELSE** THAT I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN HERE NOR DO I MAKE MONEY OFF OF **ANYTHING** MENTIONED HERE.

**The Johnson Brothers**

Chapter 3

"_Ok, today's the day I have to do it," _thought Mark. It had been over a week since Team 7 arrived at their house and he still hadn't worked up the courage to ask Sakura. He knew what he wanted to ask her. He knew how to say it, but every time he tried, he always spiraled into a tangled mess of stuttering. Today he had to do it. He had wasted enough time as it was and while it wasn't explicitly clear yet, Sasuke had started to warm up to Sakura, if only very little. Still, that was enough for Mark to decide to make his move.

At the very least, a small portion of the day was going to his favor as the Killzone 2 servers had been reinstated and the Steel and Titanium pack was free to download for a week as compensation. A new map pack was also announced, entitled the "Flash and Thunder" pack. After a few quick games to calm his nerves, Mark decided to act.

As he went to find Sakura, he heard the front doorbell ring. He opened the door to see someone wearing all black, with combat boots and a black trench-coat and sunglasses standing before him.

"Oh, Eric. Hi."

Eric was Harold's best friend to the best of Mark's knowledge. Nevertheless, he was the shadiest person Mark had ever known, far surpassing the shadiness of even Sasuke. He was super quiet, rarely spoke, always had a dead look on his face, never showing even the slightest change of emotion on his face and always wore sunglasses, even inside. As far as Mark knew, no one had even seen him without his sunglasses before. He had raven black hair, very pale skin and looked skinny and frail. Despite this, it was damn near fatal to mistake him for an easy target. While neither Mark nor Jared were able to fully grasp it, they both knew Eric was perhaps the most dangerous person in Federation City, possibly in the world. He had a very dark aura surrounding him, and just being around him sent a blood curdling chill down Mark's spine. He was never able to understand why he and Harold were friends. In fact, he didn't even know if they _were_ friends. He didn't even know why he came over.

Eric gave him a slight nod and walked in. Mark watched him carefully as he walked up the stairs and into Harold's room, saying "Yo, Harold" as he walked in. He stood there trying to make out what was happening but quickly pushed it aside. There would be time to worry about that later. First he had to find Sakura. He had to show her what he had been meaning to show her for a whole week and it would better enable him to protect her from Eric.

He saw Sakura sitting in the library, alone and reading a book. He slowly walked toward her, losing his grasp on the task at hand with each passing step. Finally, without even realizing it, he was right next to her. She looked up at him.

"Oh, hey Mark," she said.

"Hu-Hi S-Sakura," he managed to stutter out.

"Watcha need?" she asked.

He found himself unable to speak again. He tried to speak but couldn't. He was quickly losing track of what he wanted to ask her. All he could remember was…a plane…

"A plane!" he shouted out.

She looked at him oddly. "What?"

"I-I-I mean I'm building a plane. Yeah, a real, working plane and I-I was wondering if you wanted to come see it," he managed to blurt out.

She perked up. "Oh, ok. Sure, let's see." Mark turned around and let out a huge silent sigh of relief. The hard part was over, now he could focus on the plane.

When they got to the roof, Sakura was amazed. No one in Team 7 had been to the roof yet, unknowingly with the exception of Kakashi and Sakura was amazed by the landscape that lay before her eyes. The front of the house faced south so to the south, the whole of the Federation cityscape was clear as day. Their house was on the edge of the city and it was far away enough where you wouldn't hear much noise from the bustling city during the day but not so far away that you couldn't clearly make out the city. Every other direction you looked however, was a cleared out forest space of about 1000 yards, and beyond that were endless forests, a few highways leading to other blue zones and to the west were a large set of mountains where one of the largest Federation bases in the world rested. All in all, it was a beautiful sight to see for first-time viewers, especially those who had never seen Federation city before.

"…and I thought your house was beautiful…" she said.

"Yeah? Well have a look at this," Mark replied.

Sakura turned and her expression changed from amazed to awkward. What she saw was something like a wooden box frame with a pair of wings attached to it. It was like someone took two wooden panels, put a bunch of stilts in between them, then repeated the process for the wings and super-glued them all together while putting a boat paddle inside a car tire in front.

"Umm…what exactly is this?" Sakura asked, perplexed.

"This…" Mark said enthusiastically "…is a plane."

"A plane?"

"Yes," Mark replied. "You actually flew on one when you came here, remember?"

She perked up, "Oh! Yes I did. So that's what it's called?"

"Yes, it's essentially a device built a certain way that allows it to fly. I could explain all the science, math and technical terms involved, as well as the sheer number of weeks it took me to find all this stuff to build it, but that'd take too long. Long story short: I got bored one day and started making stuff on my computer until I eventually made my own variant of the first plane ever built. Project: Aviation I called it. Granted, it's not the best. This plane, at best, could only hold about 2 minutes of flight and I'm not even sure it will fly. The motor I built isn't exactly the most robust but that's why I wanted you to come see this. You see, I wanted you to be the first to watch it fly. I was…kind of saving this for a bit of a special occasion and…well…uh, that never happened. Long story but my folks found out about this and kind of forbid me to fly it and…" He was rambling again. Sakura was starting to blush, she had caught what he was trying to say. Emotion was rapidly taking over and he knew he had only one shot to diminish it.

"So!" he accidently shouted again, "You wanna see it fly?" he said, calming down again.

"Oh! Yeah, sure," Sakura replied, the blush faded.

"Ok then, but first…" he said climbing onto the plane "Come and see the control mechanism I set up."

She climbed onto the plane and all she saw was an awkward stick-like object on a stand sitting in the middle of the floor of the plane.

"Umm…what exactly is this?" she asked.

"It's a joystick," said Mark. "I normally use it when playing flight simulator but…"

He stopped, realizing that Sakura didn't know what flight simulator was. In fact, she didn't know what a computer game was in general. He wanted to show her, but once again, could never bring himself to ask her.

"Uhh…you know what? It would take me too long to explain but long story short: I managed to get it to work and I really don't know how."

"So…kind of like a freak accident?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, exactly that," Mark replied. He was really starting to tense up now. _Ok, you're blowing it _Mark thought. _She's already confused enough, so just shut up, start the plane up and hope it goes airborne…_

"Ok, let's get this thing airborne," he said hastily. "Oh, but one more thing…" Mark said as he retrieved a radio from a compartment located at the back of the plane next to engine. "Take this. I'll need you to release the cable at the back end once I fire up the plane. You know how to use a radio?"

"Yeah, I do" Sakura replied.

Sakura climbed down from the plane and walked to the back end, turning on the radio as she went. She could definitely sense the emotional tension between them and was also fully aware of Mark's difficulty of talking to her. She knew he liked her and thought it was kind of cute but wasn't so sure of her own feelings towards him. She knew she had some kind of a crush on him but at the same time wasn't so sure it was a crush. In a way though, it scared her. To think that she would have feelings for any person other than Sasuke made her only feel more insecure about her emotions than she already was. She had always been uncomfortable with her emotional stability but the thought of one of her few feelings she was certain was secure losing its stability made her feel extremely vulnerable.

She reached the back of the plane. "I'm at the back," she said.

"Got it," Mark replied. With that said, he reached down and pulled the wire. Turning on the motor was just like revving up a lawnmower. All that was required was a simple, yet strong pull of the wire to ignite the spark plug and power the engine. Mark on the other hand, was utterly shocked when the motor actually started. He was even more shocked that it didn't explode. He wasn't so certain that he built the motor properly. Racing toward the front of the plane, he had to lie down on his stomach to use the joystick since he never got around to building an actual cockpit.

The engine revved up, the propeller in full swing, his fingers crossed, "Release!" he shouted. Before he knew it, the plane was moving. He couldn't believe it. The plane he had worked so hard to build for so long, something made of scraps that looked like it was held together with plastic ties, was actually moving. The thrill didn't last long though, as he soon realized that the plane ran out of roof space to travel on and was quickly plummeting to the ground. He desperately fought the joystick, trying to pull the plane up to no avail. The only option remaining was to engage the safety system he had built in: Metal panels with spikes placed on top of the plane that when triggered, came down over the entire front view to prevent severe injury in case of a crash. It probably wouldn't do much good however, since the plane was made out of scrap wood and would most likely splinter into a million tiny pieces upon impact with anything harder than a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Still, it was better than nothing, being that it was a completely open plane with nothing to protect the pilot on any side. He closed his eyes, triggered the safety system and prepared for the inevitable crash into the vast gardens-and possibly the solid stone wall-below.

It never came. He opened his eyes after ten seconds and disengaged the safety system only to be greeted by a partial view of Federation City and a clear blue sky. He then realized it: He was gaining altitude. A quick look in the rear-view mirror he installed showed he had already passed the wall of his house and was heading into the city zone. He was amazed that the plane managed to stay in flight this long and hadn't broken down yet. Getting it off the ground was a miracle, but this was something else entirely. That's when he also realized he was getting closer to the city. If he traveled further, he might attract the military, or the police and risk getting shot down by an Orca or another defense system.

He fought the joystick again, trying to turn around. Despite the fact that the controls worked, they were unresponsive as hell. It took a full ten seconds before the plane even started to turn. By this time, he was getting dangerously close to the city. Still, he was able to turn, making a very wide arc as he made the 180 degree turn.

"Looks like the plane's holding up," said Sakura over the radio.

"I know!" replied Mark. "Pretty amazing for something made of drift wood, melted plastic and rusted metal. I wonder if anyone's seen me yet. If they have, we'll know for sure tonight. Heck, maybe even the world will know."

"How?" asked Sakura.

"News spreads a lot quicker here than it does where you come from. Tonight, I'll introduce you to the TV and maybe the computer if we have time."

"Sounds interesting," Sakura said. "So how is it up there?"

"Well, I gotta wear goggles just so I can keep my eyes open so in short, pretty damn windy."

He heard Sakura laugh. "_Man her laugh is so cute,"_ he thought to himself. For the past week, he had gotten nowhere in terms of even trying to talk with her. He had mostly spent his time huddled up in his room, the entertainment room or the roof, desperately trying to work up the courage to talk to her. He still couldn't figure out why he was unable to tell her how he felt. Still, despite the past week, he was happy now. Things were looking brighter and he was determined to use that to his advantage. As he made his way back to the house, he thought it all out. He would land the plane on the roof in style, then he would spend the rest of the day with Sakura, showing her the TV and computer and how they worked. If they had time, he'd even show the Playstation 3 and maybe play some Resistance: Fall of Man co-op with her. Either way, the day was looking pretty swell.

However, just then, as he finished his master plan for the day, he heard a pop, followed by a bang, taking him out of his little utopia he was previously in. Sakura's voice immediately came over the radio.

"Mark, is everything ok up there?" she asked, her voice filled with concern and worry.

"Yeah, I think so. Not sure what that was. In any case, I better land this bird." He said as he started to push the joystick forward.

"Mark!" Sakura screamed. "There's smoke coming from the plane!"

Mark turned around to see thick black smoke billowing from the engine. Mark knew he was in trouble then.

"Damn it! Something must've come loose!" he yelled.

"Can you still land it?" Sakura asked now frightened.

"I…I don't know," he said. "Even if I can, I'm in for one nasty landing." Judging by how badly the smoke was erupting from the engine, it was on its last few seconds of functioning. A roof landing was totally out of the question now. At best, he was in for a real rough landing somewhere in the yard.

He jammed the joystick forward as hard as he could. At that moment, he heard a crunching sound followed by an explosion. The propeller gave out and jammed before popping off the plane and plummeting to the ground below, splintering as it impacted. The plane was in free fall now, falling three times as fast. With no other option remaining, Mark engaged the safety system. Three metal panels came down over the front of the plane, their spikes ready to impale anything they came in contact with.

"Sakura, I need you to be my eyes!" Mark said in a panicked voice. "How far am I from the ground? Where am I?"

Sakura's heart was racing a mile a minute. Frozen by fear, she completely missed what Mark had said over the radio. It was only when Mark screamed her name at the top of his lungs did she hear him. She quickly fumbled for the radio, her hands sweating like crazy. Just as she grabbed it, she dropped it. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem but in her case, she was leaning on the railing of the roof. In the end, the radio shared the same fate as the propeller, it too shattering to pieces as it impacted the stone walkway below. Sakura froze, convinced that she had just killed Mark. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her throat began to choke.

"**KAKASHI SENSEI!**" she screamed as tears poured down her face in unbroken streams.

Mark heard her scream, and immediately forced the middle panel open. As soon as he had a clear view, he froze. The plane was damn near ready to smash into the house…but not just any section of the house. As soon as his body reacted, he slammed the panel shut and hit the deck. "_No…No…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" _he screamed inwardly. "_ANYTHING but __**that**__!"_

* * *

"This is absolutely pathetic Harold" said Eric.

"Man, you don't know what you're talkin about. This is big merchandise," replied Harold.

Standing before them was a bronze statue of Elvis Presley, standing before a newly installed bay window which took up the whole wall in the background. The window itself overlooked the whole front yard of the mansion and the statue was bound to be visible to anyone who entered the house using the front door.

Harold always had an obsession with what he called "Big Merchandise." Basically, anything that was either big or looked expensive, he had to own it. His room was filled with a great many odds and ends, most of which were fairly uninteresting or unattractive. It had cost Harold a great many girlfriends and to this day, he still couldn't seem to grasp why. He even assumed at one point that he didn't have enough of these awkward objects and sought to buy more, only further cluttering his room. What he didn't know however, is that his room was about to get a much needed make-over.

"Big merchandise my ass," replied Eric. "No wonder you lost so many girlfriends. Look at this place, it's a fuckin disaster."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Girls dig big merchandise and this certainly qualifies," said Harold proudly.

"Oh it qualifies all right. It qualifies that you're a dumbass and a nerd, that's what it qualifies as… and I thought that your little brother was the Nerd."

Harold merely shrugged at that. Eric let out a sigh. "You know, in all the years I've known you, I've seen you do some pretty stupid things, but this is just—

He stopped short. Out of the corner of his eye, beyond the statue, he saw something big coming right at the window. Whatever it was, it would surely take the window, the statue, and a good portion of the room with it when it crashed and there was no doubt in Eric's mind it would slam right into where they were standing. He had only seconds to react. It was now or never.

"Just wha-" Harold was stopped short as Eric charged at him. "Incoming!" he yelled as he tackled Harold, sending them both crashing through the door into the closet behind Harold.

"Eric, what are you-" was all he could say when he heard a huge crash, followed by the sight of a huge object go flying though his room, tearing up anything and everything it came into contact with.

* * *

Mark only had enough time to hit the floor of the plane and cover his head before the whole frame was rocked to its core. At that instant, he was violently thrown forward, slamming his head against the metal panels, which had already bent inward from the impact of a really hard object. He began to black out but was able to remain conscious long enough to remember the entirety of the ordeal.

The wings, unfortunate enough to not fit inside the room with the rest of the plane, immediately snapped off like twigs. The spikes, which were soldered to the metal panels no less, shattered the window on impact. The bronze statue was able to hold its ground for about a split second before being knocked over. The plane itself, still traveling at a fast speed, flipped over as the statue fell over, a spike getting caught in the open space between the right arm and the shoulder being the cause. As a result, the back end of the plane shared the same fate as the wings as it collided with the ceiling. The center metal panel snapped off as the plane finished flipping over. The only thing that saved Mark's life was that as the plane finished flipping over, the motion combined with the force of the plane falling back onto the floor-albeit upside-down-tossed him out of the plane and half-way across the remaining space of the room. The plane itself kept moving, even as it finished flipping over. It slid across the floor, stopping within spitting distance of Mark's head.

* * *

"You ok Harold?" asked Eric.

"Yeah…yeah, I think I'm good," replied Harold as he got up and out of the closet. As the disoriented feeling was wearing off, he noticed Eric just standing there, staring at the sight that took hold of Harold as he came back to his senses. It wasn't too hard to see why though.

The bay window itself was completely gone and there were slightly deep wall indents where the wings had snapped off. The floor itself was a mess, the delicate wood torn to shreds where the plane had slid along and the ceiling had a huge hole in it where the back end of the plane had crashed into it. The bronze statue remained undamaged, but the 47 inch LCD TV, electric guitar, the very expensive painting of Sun Tzu, and a bunch of other odds and ends weren't so lucky. In addition to a massive heap of scrap wood, there's was broken glass all over the place. It was a mess and would no doubt require a little more than a pretty penny to fix up.

Harold just stood there, eyes as wide as saucers, staring in complete disbelief as to what had happened. By this time, Eric simply looked back at him.

"…and I thought you were good at making a mess out of your room," said Eric.

The joke didn't faze Harold. He just continued to stare, blankly, blinklessly. "My…my…my…MY MERCHANDISE!" he screamed as he ran toward the majority of the crash site.

"Oh my god! Who did this to you? What evil, twisted son of a bitch would _do _something like this?"

* * *

No sooner did Mark pass out, he awoke to the sound of his older brother screaming in anguish. From his barely conscious state, it was mostly incomprehensible but he understood enough to know that he was grieving over his destroyed merchandise.

"_Oh yeah, don't come over to see if you brother's ok. Grieve over your oh-so precious merchandise…jerk…" _he thought to himself. As his vision began to come back, he saw a figure standing over him. It knelt down beside him and lifted his head up. The figure then proceeded to move toward his arms and eventually his entire body. From his best guess, the figure was examining him for injuries. He felt a couple of prick in his arms, and in one of his legs.

"It doesn't look too bad. You had a few big splinters in you, and a few cuts, but nothing serious. Still, you might want to keep your head encased in ice for a few days. You catch all that?" spoke the figure.

Before Mark could do anything, the door burst open.

"Mark! Mark! Are you ok?" Sakura almost shrieked as she rushed to his side. With her were Naruto and Sasuke, as well as Kakashi.

"Kakashi Sensei…" she said, her voice filled with worry.

"Don't worry Sakura, everything will be ok," he said as he knelt down next to Mark. A quick examination followed before he stood up and said "There's no major damage but he did hit his head pretty hard. Best we move him to a more comfortable area."

With that, Kakashi picked him up and carried him out of the room, Naruto and Sasuke following suit. Sakura was just about to walk out when she finally noticed Harold grieving over his merchandise. In the week that she had been here, she didn't know much about him as he was routinely out of the house, but this one particular action not only spoke volumes about his persona, but struck a chord deep within her. She walked right up to him, and before he could react, she hit him with every last ounce of strength she could muster. The impact sent Harold flying into the closet, breaking the door that had come off its hinges in two. Harold blacked out for a split second, and his senses slowly came back to him. When he finally came too, he saw Sakura standing there, breathing heavily, tears of rage welling up in her eyes.

Sakura on the other hand was just getting started. She readied herself, and charged forward, screaming in rage as she prepared to give Harold the beating of his life. Her vision turned red, she lost all sense of judgment. All she saw was red and from the looks of it, Harold was in for one nasty week of recovery…until Sakura felt herself stop short. She immediately returned to her normal state of mind, albeit in a confused state. As she looked around, she saw that she was suspended in the air by an arm covered in black that caught her around the waist. She looked up at the figure, and saw a young man with raven black hair and sunglasses on. His face was expressionless, but his head was tilted slightly to the left as if trying to figure her out.

"Well that was a little uncalled for, don't you think?" he said emotionlessly as he set her back down.

Sakura's look changed from confused to shocked instantly. "Wha…what happened?"

"You saw Harold over there grieving over his oh-so precious merchandise instead of seeing if Mark was ok. I was going to address him on that, but I guess your PMS over-clocked in and you proceeded to beat the shit out of him before I could do anything, so I had to step in or you most likely would have gone to jail and completely destroyed the already delicate ties between the Federation and the Shinobi Nations."

Sakura's eyes widened. "How do you know about the Shinobi Nations?" she gasped.

"Never mind that," he said firmly. "Go and see if your friend's ok. I'm going to have a little chat with our merchandise lover here."

"Wait," said Sakura. "I still want a say in all of this."

Eric turned toward her. As she started at him, something about his presence changed. At first, he gave off the feel of just another passive figure standing in the crowd. Now he was something more, something…menacing almost but she still held her ground. Finally seeing that she wouldn't back down, he lowered his menacing aura and gave her a slight nod but still posed to stop her if she got out of hand again.

Sakura approached Harold, who was now stunned at what just happened.

"I don't believe you, she said in a nasty tone. "Your own brother, who almost got killed in that crash, lay there unconscious after taking a huge blow to his head and the only thing you can think about is your stuff that was destroyed! What if he was dying? What if you were the only one who could've helped him, but instead lay there, grieving over all your perfectly replaceable material possessions? What would you have to say for yourself afterwards?"

Harold could say nothing, only lower his head in embarrassment. Sakura however, gave up and started walking away.

"You're a disgrace to older brothers everywhere!" she said as she walked out. Harold could only sit there, reflecting on what happened and what he did in response to it.

"Tell me why I just stopped the girl from smashing your head into pieces," said Eric.

"Because…you want me to apologize to Mark?" he replied, clueless.

"No, it's because your parents are home and I need you to make a good enough excuse so that Mark lives to see the sun rise again," said Eric with a tone of urgency.

Harold's eyes widened. "Oh…SHIT!" he yelled as he dashed for the door of his room.

* * *

Randall and Mary Johnson stood in front of their home in complete shock. They had come back to the mansion as it was chosen to host a dinner with the bunch of other important people but nothing could have prepared them for what awaited when they arrived.

Both Randall and Mary stood there, jaws dropped, gazing at the massive hole in the house in shock. For two top scientists in the Federation, both being near impervious to stressful situations and sudden, mind-altering events, this was a once in a full moon sight.

Standing from their perspective, there was a huge hole where the window to Harold's room should have been. To the sides of the window, there were indents in the wall and below there was wood scattered all over the place. It looked as if the house had been attacked.

The shock finally wore off. Randall charged for the door, almost breaking it down as he ran into the house. Mary was quick to follow.

"Randall! Don't you think we should call the police?" she screamed as she ran after him.

"…and let whatever's in there have their way with my house? Never!" he replied as he ran up the stairs.

* * *

Harold barely had time to open the door when he saw his dad running toward him. "Harold!" he yelled as he ran right up to him.

"Harold, what the-" he stopped short as he looked inside his room. He walked in and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wh…Wha…What the **FUCK **happened in here?" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Randall…" said Mary exhausted as she reached the doorway of the room. "…what are you screaming…at…" She quickly found herself struggling to breathe as she saw the damage that had been done to the room.

"Mary…do you realize what this **is**?" he said, pointing to the heap of broken wood partially embedded in the floor.

"Isn't that…"

Randall nodded. "It's Mark's plane. The plane we forbid him to continue building after he almost killed Dr Sanford." He said angrily. Randall then turned toward Harold who was already frozen with fear.

"Did you know Mark was building this? That he was going to test it again?" he demanded. Harold remained frozen, unable to speak, to move.

"ANSWER ME!" he exclaimed.

"I…uh-"

"Never mind!" he said, his voice softening to a growl. "It's not you that you need be worried about. If I were you, I'd get down on your knees and pray for your idiotic, immature, imbecile of a younger brother because I can guarantee you won't be seeing him for a while," he finished, his voice determined as he stormed out of the room shouting Mark's name at the top of his lungs.

Mary quietly followed after him, a look of worry on her face. Harold could only stand there, desperately searching for some way to act, to spare his younger brother from an utmost horrible fate that he almost certainly knew was in store for him. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't. He mind was under an intolerable amount of stress. He had to think of something good, fast. A task that was nigh impossible. Randall wasn't easily fooled. His mind was completely deadlocked. His vision began to blur, he began losing all sense on reality.

"Hey idiot," Harold jumped. "Snap out of it," said Eric.

"Eric-"

"Shut up and listen for a sec. I know you're under a lot of stress right now but you need to go in there and convince your old man before he totally kills your little bro."

"I know that, but if you would just-"

Eric slapped a hand over his mouth. "No need to explain, I get it. Just listen; Since you're an unqualified moron when it comes to these things, here's what you need to say. Now I'm only gonna say this once so…" he began whispering into his ear and continued for about ten seconds.

"Savvy?" he asked.

"Eric…" said Harold. "I think I love you!" he said as he went to hug Eric. This was met with Eric punching him in the face.

"First off, don't hug me. Secondly, what are you still doing here? Go and save your brother idiot!"

"Oh…right," said Harold as he scurried off.

Eric simply sighed. "Unqualified moron is more like an understatement here."

* * *

"Are you ok Mark?" asked Sakura

"Uh…I'll be ok…"

"As I said, he hit his head pretty hard but he'll be fine," said Kakashi.

Kakashi's words were comforting but Sakura still sat there with a worried expression on her face while Mark just lay there with an ice pack on his forehead, his eyes closed and a pained expression on his face.

This was soon about to change however as a loud "!" was heard clear as day from the lower floor of the house.

Mark's eyes immediately shot open. His body sprang upward. A look of fear smothered his expression. His jugular was pulsing a mile a minute. He couldn't tell if he was even breathing or not. This was it, his final moments on earth. The worst-case scenario had happened and he knew he had about 30 seconds to live. Randall burst through the door, his stare fixed solely on Mark. Team 7 looked at Randall, then back to Mark to see the color completely drained from his face and a gaze that had death written all over it.

"What…did I say…about flying…that damn plane?" shouted Randall. "You know we forbid you from flying that thing because it could've caused something like this, and what did you do? You flew it anyway!"

At this point, Mark was literally shaking out of fear…fear for his life. With the look on Randall's face and the tone of his voice, it was most likely that he would throw Mark in the deepest, darkest pit he could find.

"You know what I'm going to do? I'll…I'll…"

"WAIT!" shouted Harold as he came running into the room. Randall spun around and glared at Harold. If his excuse didn't work, no doubt Harold would share the same fate as Mark.

"Explain yourself Harold!" demanded Randall.

"It is Mark's plane but Mark wasn't the one who was flying it," said Harold.

Randall looked at him hard. "What are you talking about?"

"After you forbid Mark to fly, I quickly junked it myself to make sure something like this didn't happen, but about two weeks ago…Dillon came back.

"Yes yes, I heard all about that. That still doesn't have anything to do with the plane though," said Randall.

"Well yeah but by the time the cops had arrived, Mark had already shot Dillon off the roof with his catapult so they were never able to find him. When I junked the plane, I tossed it in the nearest landfill outside the city but when Mark sent Dillon flying, he must have shot him in the direction of the landfill. I don't know how he survived, hell I don't know how he survives half the stuff that happens to him but my best guess is that he found the plane, fixed it up, decided to crash it into the house, then got away…again."

Randall gave him a hard look and sat down on the nearby chair. "I knew we should've put those anti-air defenses in," he said.

A huge sigh of relief had fallen across the room. Even Kakashi was relieved. The impossible had happened. The fictional story had worked. No one knew exactly how it worked but at that point, no one cared. Mark was spared a horrible fate. At that moment, Randall perked back to life. He looked over at Mark.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed. "Mark are you alright?" he said as he rushed to hug him, Mary joining in soon after.

"Never been better," he said relieved. The two of them just sat there, hugging the child tightly for a few minutes.

"Ok then…Mary, get the tech guys on the phone. I want those AA's installed no more than two days from now. Triple their pay if you have to. Just make sure it gets done. In the meantime…I'll have to cancel the dinner," said Randall.

"Ok," she said as they both walked out of the room. Mark collapsed back onto the bed, breathing heavy.

"Mark…what exactly would have happened to you if that story hadn't worked?" asked Sakura.

He looked over at her. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

* * *

_The Next Day…_

Mark had spent the majority of the previous day resting from his ordeal. Sakura hadn't spoken to him since; too embarrassed to admit she had dropped the radio as she fumbled for it, as told by Jared. It really didn't matter to him though. He was just glad to be alive and even relieved to have been spared a fate he considered worse than death. Still, he knew Sakura wasn't going to be there much longer and he hoped she would talk to him one last time at the least. He just lay there thinking when Jared walked in.

"Oh, hey Jared," he said.

"Hey there," replied Jared as he sat on Mark's bed. "Look…there's something I wanted to talk about with you."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Well…to sum it all up…our family." Said Jared.

Mark sat up. "Wait, do mean our family on the whole or is it the subject of us not looking like our parents or Harold?"

"The latter," replied Jared nervously.

"There's no reason to be nervous Jared. I've been giving that some serious thought lately myself,"

"It really gets you thinking, doesn't it?" asked Jared. "I mean we look absolutely nothing like our parents. Even total strangers have said that. The same thing goes for Harold. He looks a lot like his parents but nothing like us."

"Yeah that pretty much spells it all out," replied Mark. "What's your theory?" he asked almost as if he could read his younger brother's mind.

"My theory?" he paused for a minute. "…I think we were adopted…"

They were both silent until Mark spoke up. "I asked Harold that once…"

Jared perked up. "Really? When?"

"A few months ago," said Mark. "He didn't answer me and it wasn't because he didn't know the answer. It was almost like he was afraid to tell me the truth. Afraid of what it could do to me mentally, emotionally."

"Well he always was looking out for our well-being despite all his nagging," said Jared.

"How would you feel about that?" asked Mark.

"To be honest…I don't know. Our parents aren't around all that much…I kinda feel like we only have each-other at times. This isn't exactly what I'd call a family," replied Jared.

"Yeah…" said Mark.

The two brothers just sat there in silence, mulling over the possibility when Jared suddenly perked up. "Oh wait, that reminds me. I need to tell you something important!"

"About what?" asked Mark.

"It's about Sasuke," Jared said quietly.

Mark leaned in. "What've you got?"

"I think I finally figured out what Sasuke's deal is, why he's pretty much isolated from the rest of us, why he puts on that emotionless façade."

"How'd you find this out?" asked Mark.

"Well…" Jared started to blush again. "I kinda remembered it while watching a Clint Eastwood movie."

"Are you serious?" said Mark, his ambition diminished.

"Yeah but hold on. Remember that movie where his character wanted vengeance on another guy because the other guy killed his family?"

"Yes," replied Mark unenthusiastically.

"Well Sasuke acts exactly like he did: Isolated, anti-social, has no friends, very mysterious, all the girls clamor for him but he shows no interest...but there's one thing Eastwood's character did that Sasuke does perfectly," said Jared

"…and that would be?"

"He's got another guy who's super envious of him and always tries to out-do him. Eastwood responds by calling him names like 'idiot' and 'dumbass' but deep down, he's got a lot of respect for him."

"You're right," said Mark. "So what's Sasuke's big secret?"

"Well that would be-"

"Mark. Are you in there?" said Mary.

Mark lowered his head. "God damn-it," he whispered. "Yeah, I'm here Mom."

"I forgot to tell you yesterday that your militia training begins tomorrow. I arraigned for a Federation officer to pick you up," she said as she walked in.

Mark shot up. "What? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I'm sorry Mark but in the chaos of what happened yesterday, it slipped my mind. Anyways, get your stuff ready, the officer will be here in 15 minutes."

She walked out of his room. He slumped back on his bed.

"Christ! When it's not one thing, it's another." Said Mark.

Jared patted him on the back. "Sorry man."

"Hey, you'll get it too come two years time," replied Mark.

Meanwhile, Sakura was nearby and overheard some of their conversation. Still feeling too embarrassed to talk to him personally, she quietly snuck up to Mark's room after Mary had walked out and put her ear against the door, trying to make out what was happening.

"Well this is just peachy isn't it?" said Jared.

"Yeah, sure is," replied Mark angrily.

"How long does it last again?"

"Three weeks and Sakura's only here for six days."

"Ah man. Guess you'll never be able to tell her how you feel."

"Yeah, no shit. No doubt the Federation's decided that the five shinobi nations aren't worth an alliance and will no doubt terminate this exchange program. I'll probably never see her again," said Mark. "Christ, these fucking Helghast!" he said as punched a wall.

"Hey, calm down," said Jared.

"I can't. My whole world is falling apart. Sakura won't talk to me for reasons x, y and z, and I have to go to militia training for three weeks because of this mysterious war that's been raging on for over 200 years against an enemy most of us have never even seen and that's only stage 1. So there's goes my chance of being able to tell Sakura how I feel and I may never see her again," said Mark.

Mark sat back down on his bed. Tears began welling up in his eyes. Jared, despite not wanting to act all brotherly decided to anyway before Mark had another emotion breakdown. He sat next to Mark and put a hand on his shoulder. Mark perked up at this.

"You'll see her again. Trust me. I've seen what these folks can do. The Federation won't deny an alliance with a culture like them. They'll be back, trust me on that."

Mark looked at his younger brother, saw that he was being all brotherly and trying to cheer him up. Normally, he would've shoved him off but given the pressure he was under, it was a welcome reprieve.

"Thanks Jared," he said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Just then, as if on cue, the two Johnson brothers heard their Mother calling Mark's name.

"Mark, it's time to leave."

"Right on cue," said Jared.

"Ditto," replied Mark.

Mark finished saying goodbye to the rest of his family and to Team 7 with Sakura nowhere in sight. He walked outside toward the car waiting for him. Just as he was about to get in though, he heard a voice call his name.

"Mark!"

He turned around. It was Sakura.

"Oh…hey Sakura," he said as she walked up to him.

Sakura stood there for a moment, pondering what to say. "Listen…about yesterday…"

"It's alright," interrupted Mark. "I really don't care what happened. Accidents happen. I'm just glad to be alive."

She looked up at him. "Well…in that case…" she gave him a hug. "See you when you get back," she finished as she strode back toward the house.

Mark was frozen in place by this. He hadn't expected Sakura to even talk to him, much less _hug _him. This came as a huge surprise. The only thing he regretted was not being able to tell her that she wouldn't be here when he got back. Still, it would have ruined the moment.

"Hey kid, you comin or what?" said the Federation officer, interrupting the moment. Still, Mark wasn't bothered by the interruption.

"Oh, right. Coming," he said as he got in the car. As he was driven away, he couldn't take his eyes off Sakura. He couldn't help but feel a sense of hope that maybe, just maybe, he would see her again someday.

* * *

As Sakura walked back to the house, Naruto was standing beside the door whistling.

"I see we have a crush on a little someone, now do we?" he teased.

Sakura gave him an annoyed look.

"You know, I think it's kinda cute," he said as he leaned in closer to her ear. "You two make a cute cou-" Sakura whacked him in the face before he could finish his sentence.

"Shut up Naruto," she said in her normal annoyed voice as she walked inside.

"Nice one," came Sasuke's voice out of nowhere.

Sakura turned to see him standing next to the door inside the house. She blushed at his compliment. It was rare for Sasuke to talk to anyone, and even rarer for him to give anyone any form of compliment or acknowledgement.

Naruto ran back into the house. "Hey! What was that for?" he asked.

"Maybe because you were annoying her? I know I would've done the same thing," said Sasuke.

"No one asked you Sasuke!" said Naruto as he stared him straight in the face.

"Naruto leave Sasuke alone!" said Sakura.

They all continued to stare at one-another until Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, startling them all.

"Hey everyone, I got some great good news and some bad news. Who wants bad news first?"

"Me!" shouted Naruto.

"Ok then, six days from now, turns out we have to go back to the village for an exam of sorts which if any of you make it all the way, it'll last about a month."

A perplexed look fell amongst Team 7. An exam? Lasting a whole month?

"But, the good news is that I just finished talking with the Johnson parents. Turns out the Federation doesn't hate us after all. So my question is: Who wants to come back here after the exam?"

Team 7 looked at each-other, then back at Kakashi.

"Well?"

* * *

Just outside the eyes of the radar, motion detector and defense systems of Federation city, on a long and narrow road hidden in thick foliage, a Helghast scout lie in watch through his VC32 Sniper Rifle as his target passed him by. He clicked the scope and zoomed in to X5 where he had a detailed look inside the car, his aim carefully following the vehicle confirming the occupants inside. There was no mistaking it, he had the right one. The few other vehicles that had passed by him that day were military. This one was civilian style and he was sure of the face in the passenger seat. Satisfied with his find, he clicked on his com.

"It's him sir. There's no doubt about it," said the alien as he watched the car disappear down the road.

"Excellent," replied the voice on the other end. "Report back to base for reassignment."

"Yes sir."

* * *

The voice on the other end stood in a darkened room overlooking a series of monitors showing camera feeds and streams of data. It was a tall being, dressed in a unique helmet and breathing apparatus. He sported the same pair of glowing red eyes as most other Helghast did and wore a highly decorated uniform which was unseen as most of his body was encased in a black leather trench coat which sported few decorations. As he closed the communication channel with the scout, he opened a new one, directed at one of his lower tier officers.

"Lieutenant Alden, do you read?"

"Affirmative," replied the lieutenant.

"Prepare your interception unit. Once they're ready, fan out along the road leading to the human outpost. We need to be ready when and if they send reinforcements," it said.

"It will be done sir!"

"Good. I expect nothing less," he paused for a moment. "and Alden…no impulsive mistakes this time." He closed the channel then turned his head slightly to the right toward his other officer standing in the corner of the room.

Unlike the other Helghast, this figure wore a white/grey outfit with black armor padding and a large, white coat with an armband strapped to it. His helmet was more round and his breathing apparatus was structured like an oval shape with a pair of tubes running from his helmet to a large pack on his back. His physical frame was also much larger than most other Helghast and his eyes were orange instead of red.

"Captain Cobar, you're wondering why I haven't chosen you for interception duties?" the figure asked.

"I am…" replied Cobar.

The helghan turned to face Cobar. "That's because I have a special mission for you. Something our lieutenant is a bit too trigger happy for…" It turned back toward the monitors, highlighted the touch-screen keypad and pressed a key. The keypad closed and a picture appeared on screen.

"You're to capture this child above all else when we take the human outpost," said the figure.

"This one, eh?" said Cobar enthusiastically.

"You remember him, correct? If I recall, you told me you were…anxious to meet him…" it said.

"Yes…yes I did," replied Cobar.

"Good," said the figure. "Now go and prepare. We launch the attack in 36 hours," he finished.

As the door opened when Cobar attempted to leave the room, he was stopped by the superior's voice.

"Just remember Captain…I need that child **alive**," it said sternly.

"Yes…of course. I shall not fail you sir," replied Cobar as he left, the door sliding shut behind him. The Helghan then turned back toward the monitor and stared at the child in the picture. Suddenly, a button on the control panel started to flash red; an incoming call.

The helghan pressed the key and the screen went black. It turned around as the hologram projector built into the floor flickered to life. The hologram representing the person on the other end was mostly a black transparent with a rainbow of other colors circulating through it. The only clearly visible part of the body were his eyes which consisted of a dark pupil surrounded by rings of grey with black lines separating each ring.

"Colonel Radec…" spoke the hologram.

"Mr. Pain," replied Radec. "I trust thing are going well?"

"They are indeed," replied Pain. "We're almost ready to meet again. It's been quite some time since we all met at once. I trust you remember our deal?"

"How could I forget? I remember the day I first arrived on this planet," said Radec.

"Good. Now keep in mind, even after the meeting, we won't be ready to initiate our mission until three earth years from now. During that time we won't require your assistance unless something urgent comes along," said Pain.

"Worth the wait," replied Radec.

"It is…at last, we shall be able to secure all the tailed beasts, including the nine-tailed fox," Pain said with great enthusiasm.

"The nine-tailed fox?" asked Radec as he recalled the description. "Mr. Pain, what if we happen to stumble across and capture a Jinchūriki before that time?"

"Hmm…you'll have to keep them in your custody until we require them. Still…when we in fact _do_ require them, it shall most certainly accelerate our plan greatly…allowing us to lend you the weapon much sooner," said Pain.

Radec's face behind his mask twisted into what would be a smile. "Well then…I believe we are more than capable of saving you the trouble of capturing the nine-tailed fox."

* * *

Author's Note: Ok ok, I know Cobar is a Colonel as well but then he'd be in the same position as Radec and since I personally believe Radec is more badass than Cobar (although Cobar is pretty nasty) we can't have that now can we? That being said...

Stay tuned, it'll get better, I swear…

Also: Lieutenant Alden is the Assault class character in the Killzone 2 multiplayer.


End file.
